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If the last fission stage is omitted, by replacing the uranium tamper with one made of lead, for example, the overall explosive force is reduced by approximately half but the amount of fallout is relatively low. The neutron bomb is a hydrogen bomb with an intentionally thin tamper, allowing as many of the fast fusion neutrons as possible to escape.
Fallout can also refer to nuclear accidents, although a nuclear reactor does not explode like a nuclear weapon. The isotopic signature of bomb fallout is very different from the fallout from a serious power reactor accident (such as Chernobyl or Fukushima). The key differences are in volatility and half-life.
The bomb fell on the bomb-bay doors, smashing them open and going into a 15,000 feet (4,572 m) free fall. The high-explosive detonator went off after it hit the ground 6.5 miles east of Florence, South Carolina, in Mars Bluff, creating a 70 feet (21 m) wide crater, 30 feet (9 m) deep. [41] A nearby house was destroyed and several people were ...
Developed between 1956 and 1961 as the Soviet Union engaged in a nuclear arms race with the United States, the Tsar Bomba - the King of Bombs - was the largest hydrogen bomb ever and was claimed ...
The southern end of Novaya Zemlya has been the location for a number of underwater, tower and rocket drop tests of nuclear weapons. Rogachevo Air Base is also located in the area, the launch area for several of nuclear armed missiles targeted north on Sukhoy Nos.
During 1954, 1956, and 1958, 21 more nuclear bombs were detonated at Bikini, yielding a total of 75 Mt of TNT (310 PJ), equivalent to more than three thousand Baker bombs. The 3.8 Mt of TNT Redwing Cherokee test was the only air burst. Air bursts distribute fallout in a large area, but surface bursts produce intense local fallout. [37]
The fallout from the March 1954 Bravo test in the Pacific Ocean had "scientific, political and social implications that have continued for more than 40 years". [3] The multi-megaton test caused fallout to occur on the islands of the Rongerik and Rongelap atolls, and a Japanese fishing boat known as the Daigo Fukuryū Maru (Lucky Dragon). [3]
This would have otherwise been too large to sustain an efficient reaction if it were triggered with conventional explosives. This experiment was intended to develop intermediate yield weapons for expanding the inventory (around 1-2 Mt vs. 4-8). Many fusion or thermonuclear weapons generate much, or even most, of their yields from fission.