Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
theguardian.com
Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
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Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#2As with most military matters, the limitation lies in logistics.
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#3I wonder if the next step - designing a thermonuclear device given an A-bomb - has also been carried out? How the Teller-Ulam design works has been public for a long time...
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#4Nuclear secrecy is a fascinating blog about this sort of thing. The designation “top secret” was first used for the Manhattan project, which of course the military developed in secret, and then unleashed upon an unsuspecting world by announcing it had destroyed the two Japanese cities.
But still to this day, all the nuclear weapons stuff is shrouded in mystery and secrecy. How they dispose of the waste … classified, how the bombs work, people have ideas, but all classified. The nuclear policy is also opaque and non-democratic.
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#5> Today, the fear is back: with al-Qaida resurgent, North Korea out of control, and nuclear rumours emanating from any number of "rogue states",
North Korea indeed got the bomb three years after the article was written - the interesting question is what kept Iran? They didn't manage that feat in 20 years (thankfully, to add).
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#6Slightly off-topic, but the upcoming Oppenheimer movie from Christopher Nolan is looking to be a masterpiece. Can’t wait for it.
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#7> Today, the fear is back: with al-Qaida resurgent, North Korea out of control, and nuclear rumours emanating from any number of "rogue states", North Korea indeed got the bomb three years after the article was written - the interesting question is what kept Iran? They didn't manage that feat in 20 years (thankfully, to add).
Cyber sabotage (see the documentary zero days)
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#8I wonder if the next step - designing a thermonuclear device given an A-bomb - has also been carried out? How the Teller-Ulam design works has been public for a long time...
Yeah but don’t you need a lot of lithium deuteride, and some tritium, which is not that easy to make. But it’s been done by at least 5 countries, including China, India, North Korea …
But the Teller Ulam designs are never complete, always redacted, obviously. You still gotta reverse engineer it.
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#9Nuclear secrecy is a fascinating blog about this sort of thing. The designation “top secret” was first used for the Manhattan project, which of course the military developed in secret, and then unleashed upon an unsuspecting world by announcing it had destroyed the two Japanese cities. But still to this day, all the nuclear weapons stuff is shrouded in mystery and secrecy. How they dispose of the waste … classified,…
For those interested, Restricted Data is a fascinating book in this vein.
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#10> Today, the fear is back: with al-Qaida resurgent, North Korea out of control, and nuclear rumours emanating from any number of "rogue states", North Korea indeed got the bomb three years after the article was written - the interesting question is what kept Iran? They didn't manage that feat in 20 years (thankfully, to add).
As the other commenter says - North Korea isn't connected to the internet in any meaningful way so it's impossible to cyber sabotage their gas centrifuges remotely. Without the correct type of uranium, you can't build an a-bomb.