First use of the atomic bomb. How does an atomic bomb work? How does an atomic bomb work?

North Korea threatens the US with testing a super-powerful hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean. Japan, which may suffer as a result of the tests, called North Korea's plans completely unacceptable. Presidents Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un argue in interviews and talk about open military conflict. For those who do not understand nuclear weapons, but want to be in the know, The Futurist has compiled a guide.

How do nuclear weapons work?

Like a regular stick of dynamite, a nuclear bomb uses energy. Only it is released not during a primitive chemical reaction, but in complex nuclear processes. There are two main ways to extract nuclear energy from an atom. IN nuclear fission the nucleus of an atom decays into two smaller fragments with a neutron. Nuclear fusion – the process by which the Sun produces energy – involves the joining of two smaller atoms to form a larger one. In any process, fission or fusion, large amounts of thermal energy and radiation are released. Depending on whether nuclear fission or fusion is used, bombs are divided into nuclear (atomic) And thermonuclear .

Can you tell me more about nuclear fission?

Atomic bomb explosion over Hiroshima (1945)

As you remember, an atom is made up of three types of subatomic particles: protons, neutrons and electrons. The center of the atom, called core , consists of protons and neutrons. Protons are positively charged, electrons are negatively charged, and neutrons have no charge at all. The proton-electron ratio is always one to one, so the atom as a whole has a neutral charge. For example, a carbon atom has six protons and six electrons. Particles are held together by a fundamental force - strong nuclear force .

The properties of an atom can change significantly depending on how many different particles it contains. If you change the number of protons, you will have a different chemical element. If you change the number of neutrons, you get isotope the same element that you have in your hands. For example, carbon has three isotopes: 1) carbon-12 (six protons + six neutrons), which is a stable and common form of the element, 2) carbon-13 (six protons + seven neutrons), which is stable but rare, and 3) carbon -14 (six protons + eight neutrons), which is rare and unstable (or radioactive).

Most atomic nuclei are stable, but some are unstable (radioactive). These nuclei spontaneously emit particles that scientists call radiation. This process is called radioactive decay . There are three types of decay:

Alpha decay : The nucleus emits an alpha particle - two protons and two neutrons bound together. Beta decay : A neutron turns into a proton, electron and antineutrino. The ejected electron is a beta particle. Spontaneous fission: the nucleus disintegrates into several parts and emits neutrons, and also emits a pulse of electromagnetic energy - a gamma ray. It is the latter type of decay that is used in a nuclear bomb. Free neutrons emitted as a result of fission begin chain reaction , which releases a colossal amount of energy.

What are nuclear bombs made of?

They can be made from uranium-235 and plutonium-239. Uranium occurs in nature as a mixture of three isotopes: 238 U (99.2745% of natural uranium), 235 U (0.72%) and 234 U (0.0055%). The most common 238 U does not support a chain reaction: only 235 U is capable of this. To achieve maximum explosion power, it is necessary that the content of 235 U in the “filling” of the bomb is at least 80%. Therefore, uranium is produced artificially enrich . To do this, the mixture of uranium isotopes is divided into two parts so that one of them contains more than 235 U.

Typically, isotope separation leaves behind a lot of depleted uranium that is unable to undergo a chain reaction—but there is a way to make it do so. The fact is that plutonium-239 does not occur in nature. But it can be obtained by bombarding 238 U with neutrons.

How is their power measured?

The power of a nuclear and thermonuclear charge is measured in TNT equivalent - the amount of trinitrotoluene that must be detonated to obtain a similar result. It is measured in kilotons (kt) and megatons (Mt). The yield of ultra-small nuclear weapons is less than 1 kt, while super-powerful bombs yield more than 1 mt.

The power of the Soviet “Tsar Bomb” was, according to various sources, from 57 to 58.6 megatons in TNT equivalent; the power of the thermonuclear bomb, which the DPRK tested in early September, was about 100 kilotons.

Who created nuclear weapons?

American physicist Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves

In the 1930s, Italian physicist Enrico Fermi demonstrated that elements bombarded by neutrons could be transformed into new elements. The result of this work was the discovery slow neutrons , as well as the discovery of new elements not represented on the periodic table. Soon after Fermi's discovery, German scientists Otto Hahn And Fritz Strassmann bombarded uranium with neutrons, resulting in the formation of a radioactive isotope of barium. They concluded that low-speed neutrons cause the uranium nucleus to break into two smaller pieces.

This work excited the minds of the whole world. At Princeton University Niels Bohr worked with John Wheeler to develop a hypothetical model of the fission process. They suggested that uranium-235 undergoes fission. Around the same time, other scientists discovered that the fission process produced even more neutrons. This prompted Bohr and Wheeler to ask an important question: could the free neutrons created by fission start a chain reaction that would release enormous amounts of energy? If this is so, then it is possible to create weapons of unimaginable power. Their assumptions were confirmed by a French physicist Frederic Joliot-Curie . His conclusion became the impetus for developments in the creation of nuclear weapons.

Physicists from Germany, England, the USA, and Japan worked on the creation of atomic weapons. Before the start of World War II Albert Einstein wrote to the US President Franklin Roosevelt that Nazi Germany plans to purify uranium-235 and create an atomic bomb. It now turns out that Germany was far from carrying out a chain reaction: they were working on a “dirty”, highly radioactive bomb. Be that as it may, the US government threw all its efforts into creating an atomic bomb as soon as possible. The Manhattan Project was launched, led by an American physicist Robert Oppenheimer and general Leslie Groves . It was attended by prominent scientists who emigrated from Europe. By the summer of 1945, atomic weapons were created based on two types of fissile material - uranium-235 and plutonium-239. One bomb, the plutonium “Thing,” was detonated during testing, and two more, the uranium “Baby” and the plutonium “Fat Man,” were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

How does a thermonuclear bomb work and who invented it?

Thermonuclear bomb is based on the reaction nuclear fusion . Unlike nuclear fission, which can occur either spontaneously or forcedly, nuclear fusion is impossible without the supply of external energy. Atomic nuclei are positively charged - so they repel each other. This situation is called the Coulomb barrier. To overcome repulsion, these particles must be accelerated to crazy speeds. This can be done at very high temperatures - on the order of several million Kelvin (hence the name). There are three types of thermonuclear reactions: self-sustaining (take place in the depths of stars), controlled and uncontrolled or explosive - they are used in hydrogen bombs.

The idea of a bomb with thermonuclear fusion initiated by an atomic charge was proposed by Enrico Fermi to his colleague Edward Teller back in 1941, at the very beginning of the Manhattan Project. However, this idea was not in demand at that time. Teller's developments were improved Stanislav Ulam , making the idea of a thermonuclear bomb feasible in practice. In 1952, the first thermonuclear explosive device was tested on Enewetak Atoll during Operation Ivy Mike. However, it was a laboratory sample, unsuitable for combat. A year later, the Soviet Union detonated the world's first thermonuclear bomb, assembled according to the design of physicists Andrey Sakharov And Yulia Kharitona . The device resembled a layer cake, so the formidable weapon was nicknamed “Puff”. In the course of further development, the most powerful bomb on Earth, the “Tsar Bomba” or “Kuzka’s Mother,” was born. In October 1961, it was tested on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.

What are thermonuclear bombs made of?

If you thought that hydrogen and thermonuclear bombs are different things, you were wrong. These words are synonymous. It is hydrogen (or rather, its isotopes - deuterium and tritium) that is required to carry out a thermonuclear reaction. However, there is a difficulty: in order to detonate a hydrogen bomb, it is first necessary to obtain a high temperature during a conventional nuclear explosion - only then will the atomic nuclei begin to react. Therefore, in the case of a thermonuclear bomb, design plays a big role.

Two schemes are widely known. The first is Sakharov’s “puff pastry”. In the center was a nuclear detonator, which was surrounded by layers of lithium deuteride mixed with tritium, which were interspersed with layers of enriched uranium. This design made it possible to achieve a power within 1 Mt. The second is the American Teller-Ulam scheme, where the nuclear bomb and hydrogen isotopes were located separately. It looked like this: below there was a container with a mixture of liquid deuterium and tritium, in the center of which there was a “spark plug” - a plutonium rod, and on top - a conventional nuclear charge, and all this in a shell of heavy metal (for example, depleted uranium). Fast neutrons produced during the explosion cause atomic fission reactions in the uranium shell and add energy to the total energy of the explosion. Adding additional layers of lithium uranium-238 deuteride makes it possible to create projectiles of unlimited power. In 1953, Soviet physicist Victor Davidenko accidentally repeated the Teller-Ulam idea, and on its basis Sakharov came up with a multi-stage scheme that made it possible to create weapons of unprecedented power. “Kuzka’s Mother” worked exactly according to this scheme.

What other bombs are there?

There are also neutron ones, but this is generally scary. Essentially, a neutron bomb is a low-power thermonuclear bomb, 80% of the explosion energy of which is radiation (neutron radiation). It looks like an ordinary low-power nuclear charge, to which a block with a beryllium isotope, a source of neutrons, has been added. When a nuclear charge explodes, a thermonuclear reaction is triggered. This type of weapon was developed by an American physicist Samuel Cohen . It was believed that neutron weapons destroy all living things, even in shelters, but the range of destruction of such weapons is small, since the atmosphere scatters streams of fast neutrons, and the shock wave is stronger at large distances.

What about the cobalt bomb?

No, son, this is fantastic. Officially, no country has cobalt bombs. Theoretically, this is a thermonuclear bomb with a cobalt shell, which ensures strong radioactive contamination of the area even with a relatively weak nuclear explosion. 510 tons of cobalt can infect the entire surface of the Earth and destroy all life on the planet. Physicist Leo Szilard , who described this hypothetical design in 1950, called it the "Doomsday Machine".

What's cooler: a nuclear bomb or a thermonuclear one?

Full-scale model of "Tsar Bomba"

The hydrogen bomb is much more advanced and technologically advanced than the atomic one. Its explosive power far exceeds that of an atomic one and is limited only by the number of available components. In a thermonuclear reaction, much more energy is released for each nucleon (the so-called constituent nuclei, protons and neutrons) than in a nuclear reaction. For example, the fission of a uranium nucleus produces 0.9 MeV (megaelectronvolt) per nucleon, and the fusion of a helium nucleus from hydrogen nuclei releases an energy of 6 MeV.

Like bombs deliverto the goal?

At first they were dropped from airplanes, but air defense systems were constantly improving, and delivering nuclear weapons in this way turned out to be unwise. With the growth of missile production, all rights to deliver nuclear weapons were transferred to ballistic and cruise missiles of various bases. Therefore, a bomb now means not a bomb, but a warhead.

It is believed that the North Korean hydrogen bomb is too large to be mounted on a rocket - so if the DPRK decides to carry out the threat, it will be carried by ship to the explosion site.

What are the consequences of a nuclear war?

Hiroshima and Nagasaki are only a small part of the possible apocalypse. For example, the “nuclear winter” hypothesis is known, which was put forward by the American astrophysicist Carl Sagan and the Soviet geophysicist Georgy Golitsyn. It is assumed that the explosion of several nuclear warheads (not in the desert or water, but in populated areas) will cause many fires, and a large amount of smoke and soot will spill into the atmosphere, which will lead to global cooling. The hypothesis has been criticized by comparing the effect to volcanic activity, which has little effect on climate. In addition, some scientists note that global warming is more likely to occur than cooling - although both sides hope that we will never know.

Are nuclear weapons allowed?

After the arms race in the 20th century, countries came to their senses and decided to limit the use of nuclear weapons. The UN adopted treaties on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the ban on nuclear tests (the latter was not signed by the young nuclear powers India, Pakistan, and the DPRK). In July 2017, a new treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons was adopted.

“Each State Party undertakes never under any circumstances to develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices,” states the first article of the treaty. .

However, the document will not come into force until 50 states ratify it.

How do nuclear weapons work?

Can you tell me more about nuclear fission?

Atomic bomb explosion over Hiroshima (1945)

What are nuclear bombs made of?

How is their power measured?

Who created nuclear weapons?

American physicist Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves

How does a thermonuclear bomb work and who invented it?

What are thermonuclear bombs made of?

What other bombs are there?

What about the cobalt bomb?

What's cooler: a nuclear bomb or a thermonuclear one?

Full-scale model of "Tsar Bomba"

Like bombs deliverto the goal?

It is believed that the North Korean hydrogen bomb is too large to be mounted on a rocket - so if the DPRK decides to carry out the threat, it will be carried by ship to the explosion site.

What are the consequences of a nuclear war?

Are nuclear weapons allowed?

“Each State Party undertakes never under any circumstances to develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices,” states the first article of the treaty. .

However, the document will not come into force until 50 states ratify it.

After the end of World War II, the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition rapidly tried to get ahead of each other in the development of a more powerful nuclear bomb.

The first test, carried out by the Americans on real objects in Japan, heated the situation between the USSR and the USA to the limit. Powerful explosions that thundered through Japanese cities and practically destroyed all life in them forced Stalin to abandon many claims on the world stage. Most Soviet physicists were urgently “thrown” into the development of nuclear weapons.

When and how did nuclear weapons appear?

The year of birth of the atomic bomb can be considered 1896. It was then that the French chemist A. Becquerel discovered that uranium is radioactive. The chain reaction of uranium creates powerful energy, which serves as the basis for a terrible explosion. It is unlikely that Becquerel imagined that his discovery would lead to the creation of nuclear weapons - the most terrible weapon in the whole world.

The end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century was a turning point in the history of the invention of nuclear weapons. It was during this time period that scientists from around the world were able to discover the following laws, rays and elements:

Alpha, gamma and beta rays;
Many isotopes of chemical elements with radioactive properties were discovered;
The law of radioactive decay was discovered, which determines the time and quantitative dependence of the intensity of radioactive decay, depending on the number of radioactive atoms in the test sample;
Nuclear isometry was born.

In the 1930s, they were able to split the atomic nucleus of uranium for the first time by absorbing neutrons. At the same time, positrons and neurons were discovered. All this gave a powerful impetus to the development of weapons that used atomic energy. In 1939, the world's first atomic bomb design was patented. This was done by a physicist from France, Frederic Joliot-Curie.

As a result of further research and development in this area, a nuclear bomb was born. The power and range of destruction of modern atomic bombs is so great that a country that has nuclear potential practically does not need a powerful army, since one atomic bomb can destroy an entire state.

How does an atomic bomb work?

An atomic bomb consists of many elements, the main ones being:

Atomic bomb body;
Automation system that controls the explosion process;
Nuclear charge or warhead.

The automation system is located in the body of the atomic bomb, along with the nuclear charge. The design of the housing must be reliable enough to protect the warhead from various external factors and influences. For example, various mechanical, temperature or similar influences, which can lead to an unplanned explosion of enormous power that can destroy everything around.

The task of automation is full control over ensuring that the explosion occurs at the right time, so the system consists of the following elements:

A device responsible for emergency detonation;
Automation system power supply;
Detonation sensor system;
Cocking device;
Safety device.

When the first tests were carried out, nuclear bombs were delivered on airplanes that managed to leave the affected area. Modern atomic bombs are so powerful that they can only be delivered using cruise, ballistic or at least anti-aircraft missiles.

Atomic bombs use various detonation systems. The simplest of them is a conventional device that is triggered when a projectile hits a target.

One of the main characteristics of nuclear bombs and missiles is their division into calibers, which are of three types:

Small, the power of atomic bombs of this caliber is equivalent to several thousand tons of TNT;
Medium (explosion power – several tens of thousands of tons of TNT);
Large, the charge power of which is measured in millions of tons of TNT.

It is interesting that most often the power of all nuclear bombs is measured precisely in TNT equivalent, since atomic weapons do not have their own scale for measuring the power of the explosion.

Algorithms for the operation of nuclear bombs

Any atomic bomb operates on the principle of using nuclear energy, which is released during a nuclear reaction. This procedure is based on either the division of heavy nuclei or the synthesis of light ones. Since during this reaction a huge amount of energy is released, and in the shortest possible time, the radius of destruction of a nuclear bomb is very impressive. Because of this feature, nuclear weapons are classified as weapons of mass destruction.

During the process that is triggered by the explosion of an atomic bomb, there are two main points:

This is the immediate center of the explosion, where the nuclear reaction takes place;
The epicenter of the explosion, which is located at the site where the bomb exploded.

The nuclear energy released during the explosion of an atomic bomb is so strong that seismic tremors begin on the earth. At the same time, these tremors cause direct destruction only at a distance of several hundred meters (although if you take into account the force of the explosion of the bomb itself, these tremors no longer affect anything).

Factors of damage during a nuclear explosion

The explosion of a nuclear bomb does not only cause terrible instant destruction. The consequences of this explosion will be felt not only by people caught in the affected area, but also by their children born after the atomic explosion. Types of destruction by atomic weapons are divided into the following groups:

Light radiation that occurs directly during an explosion;
The shock wave propagated by the bomb immediately after the explosion;
Electromagnetic pulse;
Penetrating radiation;
Radioactive contamination that can last for decades.

Although at first glance a flash of light appears to be the least threatening, it is actually the result of the release of enormous amounts of heat and light energy. Its power and strength far exceeds the power of the sun's rays, so damage from light and heat can be fatal at a distance of several kilometers.

The radiation released during an explosion is also very dangerous. Although it does not act for long, it manages to infect everything around, since its penetrating power is incredibly high.

The shock wave during an atomic explosion acts similarly to the same wave during conventional explosions, only its power and radius of destruction are much greater. In a few seconds, it causes irreparable damage not only to people, but also to equipment, buildings and the surrounding environment.

Penetrating radiation provokes the development of radiation sickness, and the electromagnetic pulse poses a danger only to equipment. The combination of all these factors, plus the power of the explosion, makes the atomic bomb the most dangerous weapon in the world.

The world's first nuclear weapons tests

The first country to develop and test nuclear weapons was the United States of America. It was the US government that allocated huge financial subsidies for the development of new promising weapons. By the end of 1941, many outstanding scientists in the field of atomic development were invited to the United States, who by 1945 were able to present a prototype atomic bomb suitable for testing.

The world's first tests of an atomic bomb equipped with an explosive device were carried out in the desert in New Mexico. The bomb, called "Gadget", was detonated on July 16, 1945. The test result was positive, although the military demanded that the nuclear bomb be tested in real combat conditions.

Seeing that there was only one step left before the victory of the Nazi coalition, and such an opportunity might not arise again, the Pentagon decided to launch a nuclear strike on the last ally of Hitler Germany - Japan. In addition, the use of a nuclear bomb was supposed to solve several problems at once:

To avoid the unnecessary bloodshed that would inevitably occur if US troops set foot on Imperial Japanese soil;
With one blow, bring the unyielding Japanese to their knees, forcing them to accept terms favorable to the United States;
Show the USSR (as a possible rival in the future) that the US Army has a unique weapon capable of wiping out any city from the face of the earth;
And, of course, to see in practice what nuclear weapons are capable of in real combat conditions.

On August 6, 1945, the world's first atomic bomb, which was used in military operations, was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This bomb was called "Baby" because it weighed 4 tons. The dropping of the bomb was carefully planned, and it hit exactly where it was planned. Those houses that were not destroyed by the blast wave burned down, as stoves that fell in the houses sparked fires, and the entire city was engulfed in flames.

The bright flash was followed by a heat wave that burned all life within a radius of 4 kilometers, and the subsequent shock wave destroyed most of the buildings.

Those who suffered heatstroke within a radius of 800 meters were burned alive. The blast wave tore off the burnt skin of many. A couple of minutes later a strange black rain began to fall, consisting of steam and ash. Those caught in the black rain suffered incurable burns to their skin.

Those few who were lucky enough to survive suffered from radiation sickness, which at that time was not only unstudied, but also completely unknown. People began to develop fever, vomiting, nausea and attacks of weakness.

On August 9, 1945, the second American bomb, called “Fat Man,” was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. This bomb had approximately the same power as the first, and the consequences of its explosion were just as destructive, although half as many people died.

The two atomic bombs dropped on Japanese cities were the first and only cases in the world of the use of atomic weapons. More than 300,000 people died in the first days after the bombing. About 150 thousand more died from radiation sickness.

After the nuclear bombing of Japanese cities, Stalin received a real shock. It became clear to him that the issue of developing nuclear weapons in Soviet Russia was a matter of security for the entire country. Already on August 20, 1945, a special committee on atomic energy issues began to work, which was urgently created by I. Stalin.

Although research in nuclear physics was carried out by a group of enthusiasts back in Tsarist Russia, it was not given due attention during Soviet times. In 1938, all research in this area was completely stopped, and many nuclear scientists were repressed as enemies of the people. After nuclear explosions in Japan, the Soviet government abruptly began to restore the nuclear industry in the country.

There is evidence that the development of nuclear weapons was carried out in Nazi Germany, and it was German scientists who modified the “raw” American atomic bomb, so the US government removed from Germany all nuclear specialists and all documents related to the development of nuclear weapons.

The Soviet intelligence school, which during the war was able to bypass all foreign intelligence services, transferred secret documents related to the development of nuclear weapons to the USSR back in 1943. At the same time, Soviet agents were infiltrated into all major American nuclear research centers.

As a result of all these measures, already in 1946, technical specifications for the production of two Soviet-made nuclear bombs were ready:

RDS-1 (with plutonium charge);
RDS-2 (with two parts of uranium charge).

The abbreviation “RDS” stood for “Russia does it itself,” which was almost completely true.

The news that the USSR was ready to release its nuclear weapons forced the US government to take drastic measures. In 1949, the Trojan plan was developed, according to which it was planned to drop atomic bombs on 70 of the largest cities of the USSR. Only fears of a retaliatory strike prevented this plan from coming true.

This alarming information coming from Soviet intelligence officers forced scientists to work in emergency mode. Already in August 1949, tests of the first atomic bomb produced in the USSR took place. When the United States learned about these tests, the Trojan plan was postponed indefinitely. The era of confrontation between two superpowers began, known in history as the Cold War.

The most powerful nuclear bomb in the world, known as the Tsar Bomba, belongs specifically to the Cold War period. USSR scientists created the most powerful bomb in human history. Its power was 60 megatons, although it was planned to create a bomb with a power of 100 kilotons. This bomb was tested in October 1961. The diameter of the fireball during the explosion was 10 kilometers, and the blast wave circled the globe three times. It was this test that forced most countries of the world to sign an agreement to stop nuclear testing not only in the earth’s atmosphere, but even in space.

Although atomic weapons are an excellent means of intimidating aggressive countries, on the other hand they are capable of nipping out any military conflicts in the bud, since an atomic explosion can destroy all parties to the conflict.

But this is something we often don’t know. And why does a nuclear bomb explode, too...

Let's start from afar. Every atom has a nucleus, and the nucleus consists of protons and neutrons - perhaps everyone knows this. In the same way, everyone saw the periodic table. But why are the chemical elements in it placed this way and not otherwise? Certainly not because Mendeleev wanted it that way. The atomic number of each element in the table indicates how many protons are in the nucleus of that element's atom. In other words, iron is number 26 in the table because there are 26 protons in an iron atom. And if there are not 26 of them, it is no longer iron.

But there can be different numbers of neutrons in the nuclei of the same element, which means that the mass of the nuclei can be different. Atoms of the same element with different masses are called isotopes. Uranium has several such isotopes: the most common in nature is uranium-238 (its nucleus has 92 protons and 146 neutrons, totaling 238). It is radioactive, but you cannot make a nuclear bomb from it. But the isotope uranium-235, a small amount of which is found in uranium ores, is suitable for a nuclear charge.

The reader may have come across the expressions “enriched uranium” and “depleted uranium”. Enriched uranium contains more uranium-235 than natural uranium; in a depleted state, correspondingly, less. Enriched uranium can be used to produce plutonium, another element suitable for a nuclear bomb (it is almost never found in nature). How uranium is enriched and how plutonium is obtained from it is a topic for a separate discussion.

So why does a nuclear bomb explode? The fact is that some heavy nuclei tend to decay if they are hit by a neutron. And you won’t have to wait long for a free neutron – there are a lot of them flying around. So, such a neutron hits the uranium-235 nucleus and thereby breaks it into “fragments”. This releases a few more neutrons. Can you guess what will happen if there are nuclei of the same element around? That's right, a chain reaction will occur. This is how it happens.

In a nuclear reactor, where uranium-235 is “dissolved” in the more stable uranium-238, an explosion does not occur under normal conditions. Most of the neutrons that fly out from decaying nuclei fly away into the milk, without finding the uranium-235 nuclei. In the reactor, the decay of nuclei occurs “sluggishly” (but this is enough for the reactor to provide energy). In a single piece of uranium-235, if it is of sufficient mass, neutrons will be guaranteed to break up the nuclei, the chain reaction will start as an avalanche, and... Stop! After all, if you make a piece of uranium-235 or plutonium with the mass required for an explosion, it will explode immediately. This is not the point.

What if you take two pieces of subcritical mass and push them against each other using a remote-controlled mechanism? For example, place both in a tube and attach a powder charge to one so that at the right moment one piece, like a projectile, is fired at the other. Here is the solution to the problem.

You can do it differently: take a spherical piece of plutonium and attach explosive charges over its entire surface. When these charges detonate on command from the outside, their explosion will compress the plutonium from all sides, compress it to a critical density, and a chain reaction will occur. However, accuracy and reliability are important here: all explosive charges must go off at the same time. If some of them work, and some don’t, or some work late, no nuclear explosion will result: the plutonium will not be compressed to a critical mass, but will dissipate in the air. Instead of a nuclear bomb, you will get a so-called “dirty” one.

This is what an implosion-type nuclear bomb looks like. The charges, which are supposed to create a directed explosion, are made in the form of polyhedra in order to cover the surface of the plutonium sphere as tightly as possible.

The first type of device was called a cannon device, the second type - an implosion device.
The "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima had a uranium-235 charge and a cannon-type device. The Fat Man bomb, detonated over Nagasaki, carried a plutonium charge, and the explosive device was implosion. Nowadays, gun-type devices are almost never used; implosion ones are more complicated, but at the same time they allow you to regulate the mass of the nuclear charge and spend it more rationally. And plutonium has replaced uranium-235 as a nuclear explosive.

Quite a few years passed, and physicists offered the military an even more powerful bomb - a thermonuclear bomb, or, as it is also called, a hydrogen bomb. It turns out that hydrogen explodes more powerfully than plutonium?

Hydrogen is indeed explosive, but not that explosive. However, there is no “ordinary” hydrogen in a hydrogen bomb; it uses its isotopes – deuterium and tritium. The nucleus of “ordinary” hydrogen has one neutron, deuterium has two, and tritium has three.

In a nuclear bomb, the nuclei of a heavy element are divided into nuclei of lighter ones. In thermonuclear fusion, the reverse process occurs: light nuclei merge with each other into heavier ones. Deuterium and tritium nuclei, for example, combine to form helium nuclei (otherwise known as alpha particles), and the “extra” neutron is sent into “free flight.” This releases significantly more energy than during the decay of plutonium nuclei. By the way, this is exactly the process that takes place on the Sun.

However, the fusion reaction is possible only at ultra-high temperatures (which is why it is called thermonuclear). How to make deuterium and tritium react? Yes, it’s very simple: you need to use a nuclear bomb as a detonator!

Since deuterium and tritium are themselves stable, their charge in a thermonuclear bomb can be arbitrarily huge. This means that a thermonuclear bomb can be made incomparably more powerful than a “simple” nuclear one. The “Baby” dropped on Hiroshima had a TNT equivalent of within 18 kilotons, and the most powerful hydrogen bomb (the so-called “Tsar Bomba”, also known as “Kuzka’s Mother”) was already 58.6 megatons, more than 3255 times more powerful "Baby"!

The “mushroom” cloud from the Tsar Bomba rose to a height of 67 kilometers, and the blast wave circled the globe three times.

However, such gigantic power is clearly excessive. Having “played enough” with megaton bombs, military engineers and physicists took a different path - the path of miniaturization of nuclear weapons. In their conventional form, nuclear weapons can be dropped from strategic bombers like aerial bombs or launched from ballistic missiles; if you miniaturize them, you get a compact nuclear charge that does not destroy everything for kilometers around, and which can be placed on an artillery shell or an air-to-ground missile. Mobility will increase and the range of tasks to be solved will expand. In addition to strategic nuclear weapons, we will receive tactical ones.

A variety of delivery systems have been developed for tactical nuclear weapons - nuclear cannons, mortars, recoilless rifles (for example, the American Davy Crockett). The USSR even had a nuclear bullet project. True, it had to be abandoned - nuclear bullets were so unreliable, so complicated and expensive to manufacture and store that there was no point in them.

"Davy Crockett." A number of these nuclear weapons were in service with the US Armed Forces, and the West German Minister of Defense unsuccessfully sought to arm the Bundeswehr with them.

Speaking about small nuclear weapons, it is worth mentioning another type of nuclear weapon - the neutron bomb. The plutonium charge in it is small, but this is not necessary. If a thermonuclear bomb follows the path of increasing the force of the explosion, then a neutron bomb relies on another damaging factor - radiation. To enhance radiation, a neutron bomb contains a supply of beryllium isotope, which upon explosion produces a huge number of fast neutrons.

According to its creators, a neutron bomb should kill enemy personnel, but leave equipment intact, which can then be captured during an offensive. In practice, it turned out somewhat differently: irradiated equipment becomes unusable - anyone who dares to pilot it will very soon “earn” radiation sickness. This does not change the fact that a neutron bomb explosion is capable of hitting an enemy through tank armor; neutron ammunition was developed by the United States specifically as a weapon against Soviet tank formations. However, tank armor was soon developed that provided some kind of protection from the flow of fast neutrons.

Another type of nuclear weapon was invented in 1950, but never (as far as is known) produced. This is the so-called cobalt bomb - a nuclear charge with a cobalt shell. During the explosion, cobalt, irradiated by a stream of neutrons, becomes an extremely radioactive isotope and is scattered throughout the area, contaminating it. Just one such bomb of sufficient power could cover the entire globe with cobalt and destroy all of humanity. Fortunately, this project remained a project.

What can we say in conclusion? A nuclear bomb is a truly terrible weapon, and at the same time it (what a paradox!) helped maintain relative peace between the superpowers. If your enemy has nuclear weapons, you will think ten times before attacking him. No country with a nuclear arsenal has ever been attacked from outside, and there have been no wars between major states in the world since 1945. Let's hope there won't be any.

As is known, to first generation nuclear weapons, it is often called ATOMIC, refers to warheads based on the use of fission energy of uranium-235 or plutonium-239 nuclei. The first ever test of such a 15 kt charger was carried out in the United States on July 16, 1945 at the Alamogordo test site.

The explosion of the first Soviet atomic bomb in August 1949 gave new impetus to the development of work on the creation second generation nuclear weapons. It is based on the technology of using the energy of thermonuclear reactions for the synthesis of nuclei of heavy hydrogen isotopes - deuterium and tritium. Such weapons are called thermonuclear or hydrogen. The first test of the Mike thermonuclear device was carried out by the United States on November 1, 1952 on the island of Elugelab (Marshall Islands), the yield of which was 5-8 million tons. The following year, a thermonuclear charge was detonated in the USSR.

The implementation of atomic and thermonuclear reactions has opened up wide opportunities for their use in the creation of a series of various ammunition of subsequent generations. Towards third generation nuclear weapons include special charges (ammunition), in which, due to a special design, they achieve a redistribution of the explosion energy in favor of one of the damaging factors. Other types of charges for such weapons ensure the creation of a focus of one or another damaging factor in a certain direction, which also leads to a significant increase in its damaging effect.

An analysis of the history of the creation and improvement of nuclear weapons indicates that the United States has invariably taken the lead in the creation of new models. However, some time passed and the USSR eliminated these unilateral advantages of the United States. Third generation nuclear weapons are no exception in this regard. One of the most famous examples of third generation nuclear weapons is NEUTRON weapons.

What are neutron weapons?

Neutron weapons were widely discussed at the turn of the 60s. However, it later became known that the possibility of its creation had been discussed long before that. The former president of the World Federation of Scientists, Professor from Great Britain E. Burop, recalled that he first heard about this back in 1944, when he worked as part of a group of English scientists in the United States on the Manhattan Project. Work on the creation of neutron weapons was initiated by the need to obtain a powerful weapon with selective destruction capability for use directly on the battlefield.

The first explosion of a neutron charger (code number W-63) was carried out in an underground adit in Nevada in April 1963. The neutron flux obtained during testing turned out to be significantly lower than the calculated value, which significantly reduced the combat capabilities of the new weapon. It took almost another 15 years for neutron charges to acquire all the qualities of a military weapon. According to Professor E. Burop, the fundamental difference between the device of a neutron charge and a thermonuclear one is the different rate of energy release: “ In a neutron bomb, the release of energy occurs much more slowly. It's like a time squib«.

Due to this slowdown, the energy spent on the formation of the shock wave and light radiation decreases and, accordingly, its release in the form of a neutron flux increases. In the course of further work, certain successes were achieved in ensuring the focusing of neutron radiation, which made it possible not only to enhance its destructive effect in a certain direction, but also to reduce the danger when using it for one’s troops.

In November 1976, another test of a neutron warhead was carried out in Nevada, during which very impressive results were obtained. As a result, at the end of 1976, a decision was made to produce components for 203-mm caliber neutron projectiles and warheads for the Lance missile. Later, in August 1981, at a meeting of the Nuclear Planning Group of the US National Security Council, a decision was made on full-scale production of neutron weapons: 2000 shells for a 203-mm howitzer and 800 warheads for the Lance missile.

When a neutron warhead explodes, the main damage to living organisms is caused by a stream of fast neutrons. According to calculations, for every kiloton of charge power, about 10 neutrons are released, which propagate with enormous speed in the surrounding space. These neutrons have an extremely high damaging effect on living organisms, much stronger than even Y-radiation and shock waves. For comparison, we point out that with the explosion of a conventional nuclear charge with a power of 1 kiloton, openly located manpower will be destroyed by a shock wave at a distance of 500-600 m. With the explosion of a neutron warhead of the same power, the destruction of manpower will occur at a distance of approximately three times greater.

The neutrons produced during the explosion move at speeds of several tens of kilometers per second. Bursting like projectiles into living cells of the body, they knock out nuclei from atoms, break molecular bonds, and form free radicals that are highly reactive, which leads to disruption of the basic cycles of life processes.

As neutrons move through the air as a result of collisions with the nuclei of gas atoms, they gradually lose energy. This leads to at a distance of about 2 km their damaging effect practically ceases. In order to reduce the destructive effect of the accompanying shock wave, the power of the neutron charge is chosen in the range from 1 to 10 kt, and the height of the explosion above the ground is about 150-200 meters.

According to some American scientists, thermonuclear experiments are being conducted at the Los Alamos and Sandia laboratories in the United States and at the All-Russian Institute of Experimental Physics in Sarov (Arzamas-16), in which, along with research on obtaining electrical energy, the possibility of obtaining purely thermonuclear explosives is being studied. The most likely by-product of the ongoing research, in their opinion, could be an improvement in the energy-mass characteristics of nuclear warheads and the creation of a neutron mini-bomb. According to experts, such a neutron warhead with a TNT equivalent of just one ton can create a lethal dose of radiation at distances of 200-400 m.

Neutron weapons are a powerful defensive weapon and their most effective use is possible when repelling aggression, especially when the enemy has invaded the protected territory. Neutron munitions are tactical weapons and their use is most likely in so-called "limited" wars, primarily in Europe. These weapons may become especially important for Russia, since with the weakening of its armed forces and the increasing threat of regional conflicts, it will be forced to place greater emphasis on nuclear weapons in ensuring its security.

The use of neutron weapons can be especially effective when repelling a massive tank attack. It is known that tank armor at certain distances from the epicenter of the explosion (more than 300-400 m during the explosion of a nuclear charge with a power of 1 kt) provides protection for crews from the shock wave and Y-radiation. At the same time, fast neutrons penetrate steel armor without significant attenuation.

Calculations show that in the event of an explosion of a neutron charge with a power of 1 kiloton, tank crews will be instantly disabled within a radius of 300 m from the epicenter and die within two days. Crews located at a distance of 300-700 m will fail in a few minutes and will also die within 6-7 days; at distances of 700-1300 m they will be ineffective in a few hours, and the death of most of them will last for several weeks. At distances of 1300-1500 m, a certain part of the crews will get serious illnesses and gradually become incapacitated.

Neutron warheads can also be used in missile defense systems to combat the warheads of attacking missiles along the trajectory. According to experts' calculations, fast neutrons, having a high penetrating ability, will pass through the lining of enemy warheads and cause damage to their electronic equipment. In addition, neutrons interacting with the uranium or plutonium nuclei of an atomic warhead detonator will cause them to fission.

Such a reaction will occur with a large release of energy, which ultimately can lead to heating and destruction of the detonator. This, in turn, will cause the entire warhead charge to fail. This property of neutron weapons was used in US missile defense systems. Back in the mid-70s, neutron warheads were installed on Sprint interceptor missiles of the Safeguard system deployed around the Grand Forks airbase (North Dakota). It is possible that the future US national missile defense system will also use neutron warheads.

As is known, in accordance with the commitments announced by the presidents of the United States and Russia in September-October 1991, all nuclear artillery shells and warheads of ground-based tactical missiles must be eliminated. However, there is no doubt that if the military-political situation changes and a political decision is made, the proven technology of neutron warheads makes it possible to establish their mass production in a short time.

"Super EMP"

Shortly after the end of World War II, with a monopoly on nuclear weapons, the United States resumed testing to improve them and determine the damaging effects of a nuclear explosion. At the end of June 1946, nuclear explosions were carried out in the area of Bikini Atoll (Marshall Islands) under the code “Operation Crossroads”, during which the damaging effects of atomic weapons were studied.

During these test explosions it was discovered new physical phenomenon — formation of a powerful pulse of electromagnetic radiation (EMR), to which great interest was immediately shown. EMP turned out to be especially significant during high explosions. In the summer of 1958, nuclear explosions were carried out at high altitudes. The first series, coded “Hardtack,” was conducted over the Pacific Ocean near Johnston Island. During the tests, two megaton-class charges were detonated: “Tek” - at an altitude of 77 kilometers and “Orange” - at an altitude of 43 kilometers.

In 1962, high-altitude explosions continued: at an altitude of 450 km, under the code “Starfish,” a warhead with a yield of 1.4 megatons was detonated. The Soviet Union also during 1961-1962. conducted a series of tests during which the impact of high-altitude explosions (180-300 km) on the functioning of missile defense system equipment was studied.
During these tests, powerful electromagnetic pulses were recorded, which had a great damaging effect on electronic equipment, communication and power lines, radio and radar stations over long distances. Since then, military experts have continued to pay great attention to research into the nature of this phenomenon, its damaging effects, and ways to protect their combat and support systems from it.

The physical nature of EMR is determined by the interaction of Y-quanta of instantaneous radiation from a nuclear explosion with atoms of air gases: Y-quanta knock out electrons from atoms (the so-called Compton electrons), which move at enormous speed in the direction from the center of the explosion. The flow of these electrons, interacting with the Earth's magnetic field, creates a pulse of electromagnetic radiation. When a megaton-class charge explodes at altitudes of several tens of kilometers, the electric field strength on the earth's surface can reach tens of kilovolts per meter.

Based on the results obtained during the tests, US military experts launched research in the early 80s aimed at creating another type of third-generation nuclear weapon - Super-EMP with an enhanced output of electromagnetic radiation.

To increase the yield of Y-quanta, it was proposed to create a shell of a substance around the charge, the nuclei of which, actively interacting with the neutrons of a nuclear explosion, emit high-energy Y-radiation. Experts believe that with the help of Super-EMP it is possible to create a field strength at the Earth's surface of the order of hundreds and even thousands of kilovolts per meter.

According to the calculations of American theorists, the explosion of such a charge with a capacity of 10 megatons at an altitude of 300-400 km above the geographic center of the United States - the state of Nebraska - will disrupt the operation of radio-electronic equipment throughout almost the entire territory of the country for a time sufficient to disrupt a retaliatory nuclear missile strike.

The further direction of work on the creation of Super-EMP was associated with enhancing its destructive effect by focusing Y-radiation, which should have led to an increase in the amplitude of the pulse. These properties of Super-EMP make it a first-strike weapon designed to disable government and military control systems, ICBMs, especially mobile-based missiles, missiles on a trajectory, radar stations, spacecraft, power supply systems, etc. Thus, Super EMP is clearly offensive in nature and is a first strike destabilizing weapon.

Penetrating warheads - penetrators

The search for reliable means of destroying highly protected targets led US military experts to the idea of using the energy of underground nuclear explosions for this purpose. When nuclear charges are buried in the ground, the proportion of energy spent on the formation of a crater, destruction zone and seismic shock waves increases significantly. In this case, with the existing accuracy of ICBMs and SLBMs, the reliability of destroying “point”, especially durable targets on enemy territory is significantly increased.

Work on the creation of penetrators was started by order of the Pentagon back in the mid-70s, when the concept of a “counterforce” strike was given priority. The first example of a penetrating warhead was developed in the early 1980s for the Pershing 2 medium-range missile. After the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, the efforts of US specialists were redirected to the creation of such ammunition for ICBMs.

The developers of the new warhead encountered significant difficulties associated, first of all, with the need to ensure its integrity and performance when moving in the ground. The enormous overloads acting on the warhead (5000-8000 g, g-gravity acceleration) place extremely stringent demands on the design of the ammunition.

The destructive effect of such a warhead on buried, particularly strong targets is determined by two factors - the power of the nuclear charge and the extent of its penetration into the ground. Moreover, for each charge power value there is an optimal depth value at which the greatest efficiency of the penetrator is ensured.

For example, the destructive effect of a 200 kiloton nuclear charge on particularly hard targets will be quite effective when it is buried to a depth of 15-20 meters and it will be equivalent to the effect of a ground explosion of a 600 kiloton MX missile warhead. Military experts have determined that with the accuracy of delivery of the penetrator warhead, characteristic of the MX and Trident-2 missiles, the probability of destroying an enemy missile silo or command post with one warhead is very high. This means that in this case the probability of target destruction will be determined only by the technical reliability of the delivery of warheads.

Obviously, penetrating warheads are designed to destroy enemy government and military control centers, ICBMs located in silos, command posts, etc. Consequently, penetrators are offensive, “counterforce” weapons designed to deliver a first strike and, as such, have a destabilizing nature.

The importance of penetrating warheads, if adopted, could increase significantly in the context of a reduction in strategic offensive weapons, when a decrease in combat capabilities for delivering a first strike (a decrease in the number of carriers and warheads) will require an increase in the probability of hitting targets with each ammunition. At the same time, for such warheads it is necessary to ensure a sufficiently high accuracy of hitting the target. Therefore, the possibility of creating penetrator warheads equipped with a homing system at the final part of the trajectory, similar to high-precision weapons, was considered.

Nuclear-pumped X-ray laser

In the second half of the 70s, research began at the Livermore Radiation Laboratory to create " anti-missile weapons of the 21st century" - an X-ray laser with nuclear excitation. From the very beginning, this weapon was conceived as the main means of destroying Soviet missiles in the active part of the trajectory, before the warheads were separated. The new weapon was given the name “multiple launch rocket weapon.”

In schematic form, the new weapon can be represented as a warhead, on the surface of which up to 50 laser rods are attached. Each rod has two degrees of freedom and, like a gun barrel, can be autonomously directed to any point in space. Along the axis of each rod, several meters long, a thin wire of dense active material, “such as gold,” is placed. A powerful nuclear charge is placed inside the warhead, the explosion of which should serve as an energy source for pumping lasers.

According to some experts, to ensure the destruction of attacking missiles at a range of more than 1000 km, a charge with a yield of several hundred kilotons will be required. The warhead also houses an targeting system with a high-speed, real-time computer.

To combat Soviet missiles, US military specialists developed special tactics for its combat use. For this purpose, it was proposed to place nuclear laser warheads on submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). In a “crisis situation” or during the period of preparation for a first strike, submarines equipped with these SLBMs must secretly move into patrol areas and take up combat positions as close as possible to the position areas of Soviet ICBMs: in the northern part of the Indian Ocean, in the Arabian, Norwegian, Okhotsk seas.

When a signal is received to launch Soviet missiles, submarine missiles are launched. If Soviet missiles rose to an altitude of 200 km, then in order to reach line-of-sight range, missiles with laser warheads need to rise to an altitude of about 950 km. After this, the control system, together with the computer, aims the laser rods at the Soviet missiles. As soon as each rod takes a position in which the radiation hits the target exactly, the computer will give a command to detonate the nuclear charge.

The enormous energy released during the explosion in the form of radiation will instantly transform the active substance of the rods (wire) into a plasma state. In a moment, this plasma, cooling, will create radiation in the X-ray range, spreading in airless space for thousands of kilometers in the direction of the axis of the rod. The laser warhead itself will be destroyed in a few microseconds, but before that it will have time to send powerful pulses of radiation towards the targets.

Absorbed in a thin surface layer of rocket material, X-rays can create an extremely high concentration of thermal energy in it, which will cause it to evaporate explosively, leading to the formation of a shock wave and, ultimately, to the destruction of the shell.

However, the creation of the X-ray laser, which was considered the cornerstone of Reagan's SDI program, encountered great difficulties that have not yet been overcome. Among them, the difficulties of focusing laser radiation, as well as creating an effective system for pointing laser rods, are in the first place.

The first underground tests of an X-ray laser were carried out in the Nevada adits in November 1980 under the code name "Dauphine". The results obtained confirmed the theoretical calculations of scientists, however, the output of X-ray radiation turned out to be very weak and clearly insufficient to destroy missiles. This was followed by a series of test explosions “Excalibur”, “Super-Excalibur”, “Cottage”, “Romano”, during which the specialists pursued the main goal - to increase the intensity of X-ray radiation through focusing.

At the end of December 1985, an underground Goldstone explosion with a yield of about 150 kt was carried out, and in April of the following year, the Mighty Oak test was carried out with similar goals. Under the ban on nuclear testing, serious obstacles arose in the creation of these weapons.

It must be emphasized that an X-ray laser is, first of all, a nuclear weapon and, if detonated near the surface of the Earth, it will have approximately the same destructive effect as a conventional thermonuclear charge of the same power.

"Hypersonic shrapnel"

During the work on the SDI program, theoretical calculations and simulation results of the process of intercepting enemy warheads showed that the first echelon of missile defense, designed to destroy missiles in the active part of the trajectory, will not be able to completely solve this problem. Therefore, it is necessary to create combat weapons capable of effectively destroying warheads during their free flight phase.

For this purpose, US experts proposed using small metal particles accelerated to high speeds using the energy of a nuclear explosion. The main idea of such a weapon is that at high speeds, even a small dense particle (weighing no more than a gram) will have large kinetic energy. Therefore, upon impact with a target, the particle can damage or even pierce the warhead shell. Even if the shell is only damaged, upon entry into the dense layers of the atmosphere it will be destroyed as a result of intense mechanical impact and aerodynamic heating.

Naturally, if such a particle hits a thin-walled inflatable decoy target, its shell will be pierced and it will immediately lose its shape in a vacuum. The destruction of light decoys will greatly facilitate the selection of nuclear warheads and, thus, will contribute to the successful fight against them.

It is assumed that, structurally, such a warhead will contain a nuclear charge of relatively low power with an automatic detonation system, around which a shell is created, consisting of many small metal destructive elements. With a shell mass of 100 kg, more than 100 thousand fragmentation elements can be obtained, which will create a relatively large and dense lesion field. During the explosion of a nuclear charge, a hot gas is formed - plasma, which, scattering at enormous speed, carries along and accelerates these dense particles. A difficult technical challenge in this case is maintaining a sufficient mass of fragments, since when a high-speed gas flow flows around them, mass will be carried away from the surface of the elements.

In the United States, a series of tests was carried out to create “nuclear shrapnel” under the Prometheus program. The power of the nuclear charge during these tests was only a few tens of tons. When assessing the destructive capabilities of this weapon, it should be borne in mind that in the dense layers of the atmosphere, particles moving at speeds of more than 4-5 kilometers per second will burn up. Therefore, “nuclear shrapnel” can only be used in space, at altitudes of more than 80-100 km, in airless conditions.

Accordingly, shrapnel warheads can be successfully used, in addition to combating warheads and decoys, also as anti-space weapons to destroy military satellites, in particular those included in the missile attack warning system (MAWS). Therefore, it is possible to use it in combat in the first strike to “blind” the enemy.

The various types of nuclear weapons discussed above by no means exhaust all the possibilities in creating their modifications. This, in particular, concerns nuclear weapons projects with an enhanced effect of an airborne nuclear wave, an increased yield of Y-radiation, increased radioactive contamination of the area (such as the notorious “cobalt” bomb), etc.

Recently, the United States has been considering projects for ultra-low-power nuclear charges.:
- mini-newx (capacity hundreds of tons),
— micro-news (tens of tons),
- Tiny-news (units of tons), which, in addition to low power, should be significantly more “clean” than their predecessors.

The process of improving nuclear weapons continues and it cannot be ruled out that in the future the appearance of subminiature nuclear charges created using super-heavy transplutonium elements with a critical mass from 25 to 500 grams. The transplutonium element Kurchatovium has a critical mass of about 150 grams.

A nuclear device using one of the California isotopes will be so small in size that, with a power of several tons of TNT, it can be adapted for firing from grenade launchers and small arms.

All of the above indicates that the use of nuclear energy for military purposes has significant potential and continued development in the direction of creating new types of weapons can lead to a “technological breakthrough” that will lower the “nuclear threshold” and have a negative impact on strategic stability.

The ban on all nuclear tests, if it does not completely block the development and improvement of nuclear weapons, then significantly slows them down. In these conditions, mutual openness, trust, the elimination of acute contradictions between states and, ultimately, the creation of an effective international system of collective security acquire special importance.

/Vladimir Belous, Major General, Professor of the Academy of Military Sciences, nasledie.ru/