Hydrogen bomb weapons

In an attempt to develop the hydrogen bomb before the Russians, a second weapons laboratory , Lawrence Livermore, was established in July 1952 to handle the additional work that would be necessaiy to stay ahead of the Russian nuclear weapons program. The administrator chosen was the University of California. Eor the next forty-five years, this LLNL was a formidable competitor to Los Alamos in the development of nuclear weapons. But much like most of the other major national laboratories, its focus also shifted away from nuclear weapons to basic science to fields like magnetic and laser fusion energy, non-nuclear energy, biomedicine, and environmental science. By the late 1990s, half of the laboratoi y s budget was nonde-fense related as the shift away from nuclear weapons continued. 

Andrei Sakliarov was a Soviet physicist who became, in the words of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, a spokesman for the conscience of mankind. He made many important contributions to our understanding of plasma physics, particle physics, and cosmology. He also designed nuclear weapons for two decades, becoming the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb in the Ih.SOs. After recognizing the dangers of nuclear weapons tests, he championed the 1963 U.S.-Soviet test ban treaty and other antinuclear initiatives. 

Separation of 6Li from natural abundance (7.4%) feed to synthesize 6LiD (an important component of the fuel used in hydrogen fusion weapons (hydrogen bombs)). This, because the (n,T) cross section for 6Li is much larger than that of 7Li, so production of tritium is much enhanced in the triggering explosion. 

Helium is also the result of fusion reactions wherein the nuclei of heavy hydrogen are fused to form atoms of hehum. The result is the release of great amounts of energy. Fusion is the physical or nuclear reaction (not chemical reaction) that takes place in the sun and in thermonuclear weapons (e.g., the hydrogen bomb). 

The Buccaneer, with its capacity to carry nuclear weapons, was central to the Admiralty s vision of the aircraft carrier as the modem equivalent of the capital ship. In a remarkable paper, dated 2 March 1954, the Admiralty set out its views on expected trends in naval weapons down to the end of 1965. The news of the American hydrogen-bomb tests came too late to influence the paper, which, however, assumed that atomic weapons would be plentiful that the importance of air attack would increase but that long-range detection of submarines and torpedo countermeasures would reduce the underwater threat to surface ships. It was predicted that by the 1960s carrier-borne aircraft would carry nuclear weapons and would contribute to the strategic air offensive aircraft and 200-mile-range anti-ship missiles would have begun to... 

With the advent of nuclear weapons, particularly thermonuclear devices (hydrogen bombs), additional 14C was added to the atmosphere. This 14C, which we shall refer to as excess 14C, was produced by neutrons which escaped from the fireball interacting with nitrogen atoms of the atmosphere in the same manner as the neutrons from cosmic rays. Since the bulk of this 14C was probably produced by a few very high energy devices exploded high in the atmosphere, most of the excess 14C was likewise deposited in the stratosphere. 

Figure 14.15 A schematic diagram of a hydrogen bomb. Adapted from Carey Sublette, Nuclear Weapon Archive.

Deuterium (2D) and tritium (3T) are heavier isotopes of hydrogen. The former is stable and makes up about 0.015 per cent of all normal hydrogen. Its physical and chemical properties are slightly different from those of the light isotope Tl For example, in the electrolysis of water H is evolved faster and this allows fairly pure D2 to be prepared. Tritium is a radioactive b-emitter with a half-life of 12.35 years, and is made when some elements are bombarded with neutrons. Both isotopes are used for research purposes. They also undergo very exothermic nuclear fusion reactions, which form the basis for thermonuclear weapons (hydrogen bombs) and could possibly be used as a future energy source. 

The nuclear fuels were created in the cosmic event that created the universe and were deposited in the earth as it took form. There are two families of nuclear fuels, those for fission (uranium and thorium) and those for fusion (protium [[//], deuterium, helium-3, and lithium). Only uranium fission has been developed as a commercial source of nuclear energy. Although fusion has been developed as a military weapon, the hydrogen bomb, it is premature to include the fusion fuels in the world s inventory of capital energy. The technology for controlled fusion is not available, nor is development of a controlled fusion process expected in the next several decades. When available it would increase the capital supply to a level greater than that from all other sources combined.16... 

To understand this new development we must examine the mechanism of the so-called thermonuclear reaction of the hydrogen bomb which had already been successfully demonstrated by American scientists in 1952. Soon after the A-bomb, loaded with uranium-235 and plutonium, had been exploded for the first time in history in the summer of 1945, our scientists went to work on another type, the hydrogen or H-bomb. The principle of this weapon is somewhat different from that of the A-bomb. The destructive force of the H-bomb comes from the fusion of fighter atoms into a heavier one, rather than from the fission of a heavier element into lighter elements. 

The destructive power of nuclear weapons derives from the core of the atom, the nucleus. One type of nuclear weapon, the fission bomb, uses the energy released when nuclei of heavy elements such as plutonium fission (split apart). A second even more powerful type of nuclear weapon, the fusion or hydrogen bomb, uses the energy released when nuclei of hydrogen are united (fused together). 

Hydrogen bomb—An nuclear explosive weapon which uses hydrogen isotopes as fuel and an atom bomb as a detonator. More powerful than an atom bomb, the Hydrogen bomb derives its destructive power from energy released when nuclei of hydrogen are forced together to form helium nuclei in a process called nuclear fusion. Also called H-bomb or Thermonuclear bomb. 

Nuclear fusion became important on Farth with the development of hydrogen bombs. A core of uranium or plutonium is used to initiate a fission reaction that raises the core s temperature to approximately 10 K, sufficient to cause fusion reactions between deuterium and tritium. In fusion bombs, LiD is used as Li reacts with fission neutrons to form tritium that then undergoes fusion with deuterium. It is estimated that approximately half the energy of a 50 megaton thermonuclear weapon comes from fusion and the other half from fission. Fusion reactions in these weapons also produce secondary fission since the high energy neutrons released in the fusion reactions make them very efficient in causing the fission of... 

Gas, having the properties of hydrogen, mp —254.54 (20.62 K) at 162 mm (triple point) bp -248,12 (25.04 K), Crit temp —232.56. Grit press. 18.317 atm. Molar density of Liquid 45,35 moies/l (20.62 K), use in fusion-based thermonuclear weapons (hydrogen bombs) energy is released by deuteron bombardment ac ... 

Tens of thousands of atomic and hydrogen bombs were built during and immediately after World War II, and 6,000 are now in existence, each having 20 times the destructive force of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. South Africa removed its nuclear weapons as part of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Pact (NPT). Today, forty nations throughout the world have the ability to produce nuclear weapons. The world barely escaped catastrophe in October 1962, during the Cuban missile crisis. There were 1,700 nuclear weapons in Cuba at that time. If the US. had invaded Cuba, it is too horrible to contemplate what might have been the consequences. 

That was not news Edward Teller was likely to hide under a bushel, whatever Oppenheimer s official agenda. Bethe was ushered into the glare as the streamliner clicked west We had a compartment on the train to California, so we could talk freely. Teller told me that the fission bomb was all well and good and, essentially, was now a sure thing. In reality, the work had hardly begun. Teller likes to jump to conclusions. He said that what we really should think about was the possibility of igniting deuterium by a fission weapon—the hydrogen bomb. ... 

Teller was thus back at weapons work when Harry Truman announced, on September 23, 1949, the explosion of Joe I, the first Soviet atomic bomb. Like most Americans, Teller had not expected the Soviet success so soon. He called Oppenheimer on the day the Soviet test was announced in a state of arousal sufficient to cause Oppenheimer to advise him sharply, Keep your shirt on. He testified later that his mind did not immediately turn in the direction of working on the thermonuclear bomb, but in fact he discussed that prospect intensely at Los Alamos early in October with Ernest Lawrence and Luis Alvarez, who encouraged him. The American nuclear monopoly had ended. The fabulous monster had real claws. If the Soviet Union had tested an atomic bomb, could a Soviet hydrogen bomb be far behind Teller decided that the only possible hope for continued national security was an all-out American effort to build the Super. 

It is sometimes difficult even for other scientists to remember that the atomic and hydrogen bombs were developed not only as weapons of terrible destruction. They were also, as Fermi once said, superb physics. ... 

Historically a nuclear weapon that relies solely on a fission process to release energy is called an atomic bomb> whereas one that also releases energy via a fusion reaction is called a hydrogen bomb. 

---