Weapons of War in the Nuclear Age: a Basic Primer

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Weapons of War in the Nuclear Age a Basic Primer
http//nuclearweaponarchive.org/
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The US and other major powers have three military
responses
1. Conventional forces traditional military
response including tanks, soldiers, non-nuclear
weapons, etc.
arabic.cnn.com
2. Strategic Nuclear Weapons ICBMs, SLBMs and
long range bombers with nuclear bombs or missiles
3. Tactical Nuclear Weapons Nuclear weapons
that are small enough to be used on the
battlefield, 1kT or less, anti-tank
es.rice.edu
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Two Types of Nuclear Weapons
Fission splitting a heavy nucleus into two
nuclei releasing substantial amounts of energy
Fusion combining of two lighter elements
usually heavy H (deuterium and tritium) releasing
substantial amounts of energy (the sun does this)
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Firing Off the Weapon 2 Methods
1. Gun Device two pieces of fissionable
material of less than a critical mass are rapidly
brought together to form a supercritical mass and
a chain reaction
2. Implosion Device a neutron generator emits a
burst of neutrons to initiate the chain reaction
at the proper moment
Implosion systems can be built using either
Pu-239 or U-235 but the gun assembly only works
for uranium.
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Relative size of several nuclear weapons
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_nuclear_we
apons
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Setting off a Nuclear Bomb Where?
A high-altitude burst is an airburst where the
point of detonation is above 100,000 feet.
High Altitude Burst
members.shaw.ca
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Setting off a Nuclear Bomb Where?
base surge
Fallout, radiation, air blast
contaminated water
Effects Radiation Underwater shock
blasts
Earth shock
Underwater Burst
Underground Burst
Subsurface Bursts
www.tpub.com
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Setting off a Nuclear Bomb Where?
Surface Burst
www.radshelters4u.com
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Setting off a Nuclear Bomb Where?
Air Burst
www.radshelters4u.com
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Setting off a Nuclear BombWhat causes the
damage?

• The energy distribution of a nuclear explosion
  consists of
• 50 blast
• 35 thermal energy (heat)
• 15 ionized radiation

• What kills people
• 50 die from the release of thermal energy
• 35 die from the blast wave
• 15 die from ionized radiation

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Setting off a Nuclear BombWhat happens?
www.globalsecurity.org
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Chronological Development of an Air Burst

• Bomb detonates (thermal wave starts)

2. Blast wave
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Setting off a Nuclear BombWhat happens?
Blast Wave/ Shock Wave
Measured in psi (pounds per square inch) Normal
atmospheric pressure 14 psi Overpressure
pressure over and above normal
flagonthemoon.blogspot.com
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Setting off a Nuclear Bomb What happens?
Variations of blast effects associated with
positive and negative phase pressures over time
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Failure of Overpressure Sensitive Structural
Elements
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Setting off a Nuclear BombWhat happens?
Measured in calories per square centimeter
(cal/cm2)
Thermal Wave/ Thermal Blast
Indirect Effects Fires, retinal burns, temporary
blindness, firestorms
Direct Effects Burns but can protect against
by standing out of the way
The larger the yield of the weapon, the more
important the thermal effect becomes
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Setting off a Nuclear BombWhat happens?
Radiation
Measured in rads unit of measure for how much
energy is absorbed by a target
Scientists now measure radiation dosage in grays
One gray equals 100 rads.)
Typical lethality as a function of dose
http//rex.nci.nih.gov
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Setting off a Nuclear BombWhat happens? The
Radiation
Dental X-ray about 0.1 rads
Gamma Rays emitted in radiation penetrate human
flesh to 10 cm literally ripping apart molecules
Sheltering is important a 16 inch barrier of
earth can reduce the radiation by a factor of 10
(450 rads becomes 45)
www.nasa.gov
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The Effects of Whole-Body Radiation
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Setting off a Nuclear Bomb What happens?
The high energy Gamma Radiation from the nuclear
explosion collides with the air molecules in the
earths atmosphere, dislodging electrons causing
a charge known as the Compton Current (the signal
is called HEMP).
The Electromagnetic Pulse or EMP
Result electronics are made inoperable
www.euro-emc.co.uk
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MAD Mutually Assured Destruction
The ability to bomb the enemy back to the stone
age after having been bombed back to the stone
age.

Minuteman 3 missile launch
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ImageMinuteman3launc
h.jpg
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Fallout
www.piedmontcommunities.us
www.cfo.doe.gov
www.piedmontcommunities.us
Per capita thyroid doses resulting from all
exposure routes from all test
http//rex.nci.nih.gov
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Nuclear States
it.stlawu.edu
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Nuclear Treaties
www.comeclean.org.uk

• 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty
• 1967 Outer Space Treaty
• 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty N. Korea
  withdraws 2003
• 1972 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty I ABM
  treaty amended in 1997, US withdraws in 2002
• 1972 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty I Interim
  Agreement
• 1979 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II
• 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
  (INF)
• 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
• 1993 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty II Russia
  withdraws 2002
• 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
• 2002 Nuclear Arms Reduction Pact (Treaty of
  Moscow)

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Very helpful source used for some of this
presentation

• www.fas.org/nuke - Federation of American
  Scientists