| Why not try to build fizzle nukes? |
| Perhaps the Western World was quite off the mark when they labeled the North Korean nuke test as a failure. |
| Why couldn't North Korea have several development programs going on at the same time? |
| One program could be the development of a warhead that could fit in the nose cone of a ballistic missle... a task that must be quite daunting. Another program could be the development of fizzle bomb technology. Not much precision required. You machine a hollow cylinder of about six kilograms of only moderately refined plutonium (don't worry about the plutonium 240, think of it as an free added extra for our dirty little toy). Then you machine another cylinder of seven or so kilos of more plutonium that is sized to be able to nest reasonably well inside the hollow cylinder. Let's remember to not test the cylinders for nesting while working with actual plutonium. Remember the cautionary tale of the fellow in 1946 decided to demonstrate how the tracks would allow two hemispheres of uranium to form a sphere of critical mass. |
| Now for the casing, mostly a pair of tubes. One large tube to hold the hollow cylinder in position. A second smaller tube inside to hold the solid cylinder -- and upon detonation guide the smaller cylinder to rest (for a very, very short time) inside the hollow cylinder. |
| Yield . . .schmield. How many tnt tonne equivalents of ammonium nitrate blasting compound caused the Oklahoma City disaster? Personally the idea of being anywhere near a 400 tonne blast is not my concept of a good time. |
| We have reason to believe that nukes can be fairly small. Think of the near mythical Soviet suitcase and backpack bombs. |
| Fizzle nukes, maybe they can be relatively cheap and... and easy too . . . if you don't mind fizzle bombs. Probably ten times cheaper per unit to produce and in a much, much shorter time. Most teenage boys could not manufacture a precision artillery shell if given all the time in the world . . . but many have managed to build pipe bombs (piece of advice-- do not drill the fuse hole for the pipe bomb after filling the pipe with black powder-- kid in downers grove took out himself and a garage wall after screwing up the sequence of assembly.) Cheap, quick, and quite deadly--what's not to like? |