at high power levels for some time before use as a weapon. Under
such conditions, it would have to be transported in heavy shielding
and would pose even greater handling problems than stolen spent
nuclear reactor fuel. Generally speaking, therefore, it would be
easier to make and use a fission bomb than to make and pulse a
nuclear reactor core in a way that would produce damage on the
scale of a fission bomb.
PURE
FUSION EXPLOSIVES
A pure fusion
explosive would be a device that would not require any fission
"trigger" to initiate explosive thermonuclear (fusion) reactions in
very light hydrogen isotopes such as deuterium and tritium. There
is considerable discussion in the unclassified literature
concerning the possibility of developing this type of explosive. No
successful development has yet been announced, and we have no
reason to believe it has taken place.
Recent papers
suggest that it may be possible to use intense laser pulses to
implode small "pellets" of deuterium and tritium (and possibly pure
deuterium) in such a way as to cause the pellets to explode. The
concept is described in the context of its possible use for the
generation of electric power. Very small thermonuclear explosions
would be confined, possibly with magnetic fields, and the explosion
energy would be extracted to produce electricity.
Intensive
research and development on such systems is under way in AEC
laboratories and at least one industrial laboratory. Some people
working on laser-induced fusion suggest that the scientific
feasibility of the concept may be successfully demonstrated within
a year or two. There is considerable controversy, however, about
when the practicality of laser-induced fusion may be demonstrated.
Whether or not laser-triggered fusion could be developed into
practical and transportable nuclear explosives with yields
equivalent to or greater than tons of chemical high explosives is
not revealed in the unclassified literature, and the answer may
well be unknown.
In any case,
we do not believe that pure fusion explosives could be made
clandestinely in the foreseeable future without highly
sophisticated equipment and exceptionally highly skilled and
experienced specialists.