Comments on: About That Enrichment Program https://totalwonkerr.net/2009/07/07/about-that-enrichment-program/ Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:07:28 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Allen Thomson https://totalwonkerr.net/2009/07/07/about-that-enrichment-program/#comment-787 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:34:59 +0000 http://www.totalwonkerr.net/about-that-enrichment-program/#comment-787 > precise composition of secondaries

There’s apparently a great variety of viable designs for secondaries. Some of the more modern US bombs, like the W87 and W88, reportedly have the option to use a lot of HEU in the secondary to increase the yield.

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Weapons/W87.html

]]> By: Josh https://totalwonkerr.net/2009/07/07/about-that-enrichment-program/#comment-786 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:13:42 +0000 http://www.totalwonkerr.net/about-that-enrichment-program/#comment-786 I plead ignorance on the precise composition of secondaries. It was an attempt at sardonic humor.

Yes, presumably the point of enrichment would be HEU fission devices. I’ll circle back around to that angle when I pick up this topic again.

]]> By: kme https://totalwonkerr.net/2009/07/07/about-that-enrichment-program/#comment-785 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:09:04 +0000 http://www.totalwonkerr.net/about-that-enrichment-program/#comment-785 I didn’t think HEU was of particular use in Hydrogen bomb secondaries – isn’t even DU enough, given the massive neutron flux?

I would have thought the real reason they’d be going down the HEU path is just because the rate at which they can create weapons-grade Pu is somewhat limited.

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