Re: Nuclear Weapons Material

[cjl <cjl@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu>]

On Wed, 24 Aug 1994, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
> 
> In a fusion, or H Bomb, the tritium (which is just hydrogen with an
> extra two neutrons) is that which produces the boom -- the main fuel,
> as it were. Its a "neutron source" only in the weakest possible sense
> -- the same way dynamite might be considered to need nitroglycerine as
> a "neutron source". (I'm not sure that people outside of the bomb
> building industry really know *for sure* what the geometries used in
> the atomic weapon that sets off the fusion reaction.)
> 
> Perry
> 
Since the bomb thread won't die a seemly death I thought I'd throw in my
.00000002 megabucks.  Modern H bombs are actually fission-fusion-fission
devices. The traditional U-235 (or Pu-239) atomic bomb sets off a fusion 
reaction burning the tritium, producing alot of fast neutrons that in turn
sets off another fission explosion in the otherwise non-fissile U-238 
that is wrapped around the outside of the bomb.  More bang for the buck, 
and it gives you something to do with all that U-238 you got while 
purifying the U-235.

C. J. Leonard                     (    /      "DNA is groovy"
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