Interesting. The September 2016 test yield was ~35 kt, this was the test the DPRK called a "hydrogen bomb." I took that to mean boosted with tritium. The September 2017 test was ~150kt, the DPRK claimed that was a two stage device.
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Could a little amount of HEU ( about 1inch or less), in a boosted configuration be capable to produce fast neutrons making U238 undergoing fission? Is U238 explosion higher than U235, even Pu?
A sphere of HEU with a 1 inch diameter is only 0.16 kg... that feels like a strong "no" to me (a couple orders of magnitude smaller than smallest U235 cores I have heard of). U238 fissioning releases approx. same energy per gram of fissioning as U235 and Pu (~18 kt/kg).
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If you're asking about 1 inch around a Pu core, I don't know how much that would help. It wouldn't be a good approach to a composite weapon (which usually use a little bit of Pu and a lot of HEU).
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In terms of less active material than usual, i think only 1 inch of uranium could release less than 1kt but even 1kt means a huge damage if it was exploded by airdrop ( that would maximize damage around its target) Is that right?
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I am not sure I understand what you're asking (or why). Again, 1 inch diameter sphere of HEU is only 0.16 kg. Getting a supercritical assembly out of that is not going to be easy. Even if it fissioned 100% (unlikely) would only release <10 tons (not kt) of energy.
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Sorry about my comments. I understood You wrote. I was trying to tell that if NK has not enough active material, weapons' engineers easily could build a nuclear weapon with low yield, but with best results.
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It is possible to make very low yield weapons with a kilogram or perhaps less of material, but it is not easy and the results are not great. I don't think that's what DPRK would be doing.
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Yeah. You can make a neutron/gamma grenade moderated criticality device more easily but useful explosives yield doesn't scale down well.
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Yes. That i was trying tobtalk about : neutron bomb or enhanced radiation weapon.
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18kt per Kg? ( 1:18000 ratio)? Is it a linear or exponential value? What about Plutonium? I heard that about 6kg of Plutonium is capable to delivery similar yield.
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It is linear. Pu is about the same in terms of fissioning (just a bit more). We are talking about total fissioning. So if 6 kg of Pu gives 18 kt then you know only 1 kg actually fissioned:http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2013/12/23/kilotons-per-kilogram/ …
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Thanks
@wellerstein about this website. I' ve just seen it few minutes ago. Absolutely fantastic a comparison between two isotopes in terms of yield per kilogram. Perhaps you could have any information about secondary fuel and its shape, couldn't?
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