Pure fusion weapon

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A pure fusion weapon is a hypothetical

hydrogen bomb design that does not need a fission "primary" explosive to ignite the fusion of deuterium and tritium, two heavy isotopes of hydrogen used in fission-fusion thermonuclear weapons. Such a weapon would require no fissile material and would therefore be much easier to develop in secret than existing weapons. Separating weapons-grade uranium (U-235) or breeding plutonium (Pu-239) requires a substantial and difficult-to-conceal industrial investment, and blocking the sale and transfer of the needed machinery has been the primary mechanism to control nuclear proliferation to date.[1]

Explanation

All current

radioactive byproducts made by fission-type weapons. These weapons would be lethal not only because of their explosive force, which could be large compared to bombs based on chemical explosives, but also because of the neutrons
they generate.

While various neutron source devices have been developed, some of them based on fusion reactions, none of them are able to produce a net energy yield, either in controlled form for energy production or uncontrolled for a weapon.

Progress

Despite the many millions of dollars spent by the U.S. between 1952 and 1992 to produce a pure fusion weapon, no measurable success was ever achieved. In 1998, the

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
.

It has been claimed that it is possible to conceive of a crude, deliverable, pure fusion weapon, using only present-day, unclassified technology. The weapon design[2] weighs approximately 3 tonnes, and might have a total yield of approximately 3 tonnes of TNT. The proposed design uses a large explosively pumped flux compression generator to produce the high power density required to ignite the fusion fuel. From the point of view of explosive damage, such a weapon would have no clear advantages over a conventional explosive, but the massive neutron flux could deliver a lethal dose of radiation to humans within a 500-meter radius (most of those fatalities would occur over a period of months, rather than immediately).

Alternative fusion trigger

Some researchers have examined the use of antimatter[3] as an alternative fusion trigger, mainly in the context of antimatter-catalyzed nuclear pulse propulsion but also nuclear weapons.[4][5][6] Such a system, in a weapons context, would have many of the desired properties of a pure fusion weapon. The technical barriers to producing and containing the required quantities of antimatter appear formidable, well beyond present capabilities.

Induced gamma emission is another approach that is currently being researched. Very high energy-density chemicals such as ballotechnics and others have also been suggested as a means of triggering a pure fusion weapon. [citation needed]

Nuclear isomers have also been investigated for use in pure fusion weaponry. Hafnium and tantalum isomers can be induced to emit very strong gamma radiation. Gamma emission from these isomers may have enough energy to start a thermonuclear reaction, without requiring any fissile material. [citation needed
]

References

  1. ^ Davidson, Keay (1998-07-20). "Activists: Super-laser may bring tiny nukes". San Francisco Chronicle. Critics raise another objection to the development of pure-fusion bombs: A nation could more easily hide the manufacture of such bombs than of ordinary nuclear weapons. The reason is that pure-fusion bombs would not require uranium or plutonium, whose radioactivity can be detected by U.N. weapons inspectors. The present way to "prevent the spread or proliferation of nuclear weapons is by detecting the materials needed to make nuclear weapons, (namely) plutonium and highly enriched uranium," Cabasso says. "Since you don't need those for pure-fusion weapons, then that means of detecting the existence of the weapons disappears."
  2. doi:10.1080/08929889808426452
    .
  3. arXiv:physics/0510071
    .
  4. ISBN 9789386019837
    – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Wang, Brian (22 September 2015). "Details on antimatter-triggered fusion bombs". NextBigFuture.
  6. ^ "Antimatter weapons". cui.unige.ch.

External links

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