Nuclear Arsenals
Dennis Silverman, U C Irvine
Source: Energy and Problems of a Technical
Society, by
Jack J. Kraushaar and
Robert A. Ristinen
Nuclear Forces, 1991
• United States
• Deployed Strategic Warheads (ICBMs,
SLBMs, Bombers): 8,772;
• Total Megatons ~2,500;
• Tactical Weapons, ~10,000 (Today 1600)
• Former USSR
• Deployed Strategic Warheads: 9,537;
• Total Megatons ~4,500;
• Tactical Weapons, ~10,000.
Other Countries’ Nuclear
Weapons, 1991
• France, ~550
• China, ~450
• U. K., ~300
Newer Countries, Today
•
•
•
•
Israel: 200+ nuclear weapons
India: 60+
Pakistan: 24-48
India and Pakistan are in
dispute over Kashmir
• Source: Center for Defense
Information (www.cdi.org)
Nuclear war is
unthinkable
• Immediate destruction of ½ of population
• Due to the complexity and interdependence of
systems, all fuel, power, industrial,
transportation, water, food, communication, and
medical systems would not function
• In a major power war, nuclear winter would
destroy crops worldwide
• The ozone layer shielding us from UV radiation
would be destroyed
• There would be long term radiation exposure
• Because of international trade, companies and
investment, making war is essentially making
war on yourself.
Problems with Nuclear
Arsenals
• Must maintain their functionality
despite
• Tritium in fusion part decays in decades
• Radiation damage to structures
• Computer simulations, physical tests,
and maintenance required
• Possibility of theft (but code protected,
and in the US, by delivery method)
New US nuclear
initiatives
• Develop smaller weapons to hide the
difference between conventional and
nuclear weapon usage
• Testing to be resumed to test these
– scientists claim not needed
• Bunker busters – scientists claim
will not be any more effective and
large extended damage
• These have been funded only for
research, but not development
Total Cost of US Nuclear
Arsenal
• Source: Atomic Audit, …
• Stephen I. Schwartz, ed., of the
Brookings Institute.
• The total cost since 1940 is
estimated at $5 trillion, to
produce 70,000 weapons.
Fission Weapons
Developments
• Enriching
235U
for Fission Weapons
• Done in diffusion Plants, or by
• Electromagnetic Separation, or by
• Centrifuge Separation
• Getting Critical Mass from gun type bombs
•
• Uniting halves, or
• Inserting the missing core
239Pu
Fission
• Create 239Pu in short nuclear reactor runs
• Implode sphere or shell to get critical mass
together
Hydrogen Bomb
Development
• Fission bomb core produces
neutrons
• T (Tritium) production from
• n + 6Li → 4He + T + 4.8 MeV
• Fusion energy from
• D + T → 4He + n + 17.6 MeV
• Surround by 238U for further
fission from high energy n
The Trouble with
N. Korea
• Surreptitiously worked on weapons despite
previous agreement
• May have reprocessed Pu giving it the
capacity for several bombs
• Also have U enrichment program
• May have one or two weapons
• Developing long range missiles
• US and Russia have shut down building
two nuclear plants
• Fuel and food embargo continues
• US position is complete dismantling of
weapons programs with full inspections
The Trouble with Iran
• Finishing a nuclear plant
• Has centrifuge U enrichment
technology
• Developing long range missiles
• Agreed to new inspections, but
some doubt their completeness