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The nuclear shaped charge concept was also studied extensively in the 1980s as part of Project Prometheus, along with bomb-pumped lasers. Using a combination of explosive wave-shaping and "gun-barrel" design, up to 5% of a small nuclear bomb could reportedly be converted into kinetic energy driving a beam of particles with a beam angle of 0.001 ...
Variable yield weapon, most powerful US weapon in active service. B53 nuclear bomb: 9,000 38,000 Was the most powerful US bomb in active service until 1997. 50 were retained as part of the "Hedge" portion of the Enduring Stockpile until completely dismantled in 2011. [3] The Mod 11 variant of the B61 replaced the B53 in the bunker busting role.
The first nuclear explosive devices provided the basic building blocks of future weapons. Pictured is the Gadget device being prepared for the Trinity nuclear test.. Nuclear Weapons Design are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package [1] of a nuclear weapon to detonate.
The nominal spherical critical mass for an untampered 235 U nuclear weapon is 56 kilograms (123 lb), [6] which would form a sphere 17.32 centimetres (6.82 in) in diameter. The material must be 85% or more of 235 U and is known as weapons grade uranium, though for a crude and inefficient weapon 20% enrichment is sufficient (called weapon(s)-usable).
Shaped-charge effects driven by nuclear explosions have been discussed speculatively, but are not known to have been produced in fact. [ 81 ] [ 82 ] [ 83 ] For example, the early nuclear weapons designer Ted Taylor was quoted as saying, in the context of shaped charges, "A one-kiloton fission device, shaped properly, could make a hole ten feet ...
In an implosion-type nuclear weapon, polygonal lenses are arranged around the spherical core of the bomb. Thirty-two "points" are shown. Other designs use as many as 96 or as few as two such points. An explosive lens—as used, for example, in nuclear weapons—is a highly specialized shaped charge.
According to an audit by the Brookings Institution, between 1940 and 1996, the US spent $11.3 trillion in present-day terms [107] on nuclear weapons programs. 57% of which was spent on building nuclear weapons delivery systems. 6.3% of the total$, 709 billion in present-day terms, was spent on environmental remediation and nuclear waste ...
According to an audit by the Brookings Institution, between 1940 and 1996, the US spent $11.3 trillion in present-day terms [6] on nuclear weapons programs. 57 percent of which was spent on building delivery mechanisms for nuclear weapons. 6.3 percent of the total, $709 billion in present-day terms, was spent on weapon nuclear waste management ...