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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 first target of nuclear weapons, the Mark I atomic bomb. The target was the Aioi Bridge across the Ōta River ; it exploded several hundred yards off. Hiroshima was a city of 250,000, suffering 70,000 or so deaths immediately and up to 126,000 by the end of the year.
Edward Teller, often referred to as the "father of the hydrogen bomb" Fusion reactions do not create fission products, and thus contribute far less to the creation of nuclear fallout than fission reactions, but because all thermonuclear weapons contain at least one fission stage, and many high-yield thermonuclear devices have a final fission ...
The Tsar Bomba far surpassed the largest explosion the United States has ever conducted - a 15-megaton "Castle Bravo" hydrogen bomb detonated on Bikini Atoll in 1954. (Reporting by Maria Vasilyeva ...
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]
The Doomsday Clock reached high points in 1953, when the Clock was set to two minutes until midnight after the U.S. and the Soviet Union began testing hydrogen bombs, and in 2018, following the failure of world leaders to address tensions relating to nuclear weapons and climate change issues. [19]