270 – Nuclear Weapons
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Guest: Alex Wellerstein Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Andy Joiner
In this episode we chat about the science and engineering involved in nuclear weapons. Our guest is Alex Wellerstein of the Stevens Institute of Technology. We talk about atomic bombs as well as hydrogen bombs, how to refine the necessary fuels as well as a little bit of history.
A few specific links, as mentioned on the episode:
- Alex’ Blog nuclearsecrecy.com
- Alex’ Nukemap
- David Baker’s book on nuclear weapons
- Eric Schlosser’s book, Command and Control.
And as is almost an unfortunate tradition, I forgot to mention all of those of you who helped me prepare the episode with your input: Patrick Hosford, Daniel Merrlin Rüscher, Christopher Fredette, Sebastian Knapp, Benn Britton, Bernd Hart, MalteJ, Szymon Bartus, and Karsten Schmidt. Thank you :-)
Science Fundamentals
00:06:37Nuclear weapon | Atom | Nucleus | Proton | Neutron | Electron | Chemical Explosion | Nuclear Energy | Controlled Reaction | Exponential Effect | Fission Reactor | Fission Bomb | Race Condition | Critical Mass | Einstein’s Formula E=MC² | Newton’s Equations | Electrical Repulsion | Nuclear Force | Uranium | Nuclear Stability | Nucleon | Barbell Shape | Particles | Radiation | Thermodynamics | Binding Energy | Mass Defect | Supernova | Electronvolt | Split Atom | Natural Nuclear Fission Reactor | Earth Crust | Control Rods | Neutron Economy | Fission Product | Delayed Neutron | Research Reactor | Self Limiting
Critical Mass
00:19:44Los Alamos | Critical Assembly | Spontaneous Fission Rates | Fissile Materials | Uranium 235 | Plutonium 238 | Enriched Uranium | Fission Factor, k <ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_chain_reaction#Effective_neutron_multiplication_factor> | TNT | Kiloton and Megaton | Reflector | Beryllium | Density | Bare Sphere Critical Mass
Fusion
00:26:54Nuclear Fusion | Coulomb Repulsion | Coulomb Barrier | Kinetic Energy | 200MeV Uranium | 14MeV Deuterium/Tritium
Weapons Effects
00:34:02Pressure, Heat, Radiation, Electromagnetic | Fireball | Blast Wave/Pressure Wave | Thermal Pulse | Blast of Neutrons and Gamma Rays | Fallout | Electromagnetic | Flammability | Hiroshima | Blast Amplification | Ideal Height | Decay | Nagasaki | Detonation | Hydrogen bomb | Cold War | Missile | Yield | ICBM
Atomic Bomb
00:54:19Manhattan Project | Enriched Uranium | Moderator | Godiva Device | Implosion Method | High Explosive Lenses | Detonation Velocities | Waves Interact | Composite Bomb | Oppenheimer | Plutonium vs Uranium | Rosenbergs | Classified
Hydrogen Bomb
01:18:54Dial-a-yield | H-Bomb = Thermonuclear | Teller Ulam | Lithium Deuteride | Gamma Radiation | Radiation Pressure | Radiation Implosion | Radiation Engineering (Inertial Confinement Fusion - Lasers) | National Ignition Facility | Ablation | Sparkplug | Fission-Fusion-Fission | Activation | Dirty Bomb | Project Orion | Project Pluto | Cruise Missile | Davey Crocket
Hydrogen Bomb Development
01:50:16Yeld-to-Weight Ratio | Always/Never Problem | Irradiating | Stockpile Stewardship | B61 | B83 | Warhead | Triad | Centrifuge
North Korea
02:17:52
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You mention PU-238. But the main use of -238 is RTGs, not bombs. Weapons use PU-239.
One of my favorite episodes. I somehow got a much more intuitive sense for this topic than I have from anything else I’ve read/heard. Definitely would love more from Alex.
Thanks for this podcast. Really informative and interesting. And I have to give you big props for the breakdown of the podcast with the links to all the different things you talked about. That’s professional level stuff there. Good job.
Thanks Ben! The shownotes are done by Andy Joiner, I will let him know :-)
This was a really interesting episode. I liked the explanation of Alex Wellerstein of where the energy in nuclear reactions comes from. One thing I’d like to add is that nuclear reactions are not special in regard to the mass defect. Exothermal chemical reactions have the same mass defect, it’s just very much smaller.
Really interesting on a technical level. But I felt uneasy during hearing this episode: I hope we will never have any more thermonuclear explosions on this planet. I was glad at least some political context was given at the end.
It’s interesting that you would have liked *more* political context. I was going out of my way to keep politics out and try to focus on the physics and engineering.
Awesome episode, nicely explained. Markus, I came across this BBC podcast [1] (hosted on itunes) afterwards, that looks at the command-chain aspects of launching a nuclear missile. Somewhat eerie but maybe a worthwhile topic for omegatao?
[1] https://itunes.apple.com/de/podcast/how-do-you-launch-a-nuclear-missile/id932499233?i=1000380334763&l=en&mt=2
Far too many years ago for my liking Matt Bunn gave an elective lecture series pretty much covering the early part of this podcast, so if we’re speaking of critical assembly… well I’ve had to read that book!
What has stuck in my memory from then is the manipulation of device yield to detonation mechanics and so adjusting the primary incident and secondary reflected pressure waves to produce the idealized Mach stem. Damn me if that’s not a concern of blast effect over radioactive fallout!
I’ve found a similar two-part 2013 online Harvard lecture that was significantly less technical (and probably less classified) than I remember; it might interest the wt listenership.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVhQOhxb1Mc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnW7DxsJth0
Couldn’t hear to the end. Nuclear Weapons seems to be a normal thing. Just a technical thing that we know how to use it correcty. It seems that it is a tool we could just use against the one who comes in our way.
Maybe we all have to watch the movie “The day after” again.
I really really enjoyed the podcast, I don’t see any reason why this topic should not be covered on omega tau from a technical and political point of view. In the end, the fact is that these weapons exist and have been used, and the topic is once again more current with the situation in North Korea than before. Closing your eyes (or ears) is not removing the thread or changing the minds of dictators who are threatening to use these weapons. And this pocast was very far away from any form of glorification of weapons. Once again, thank you Markus and Alex for making my trip today (8 hours in the car) much more enjoyable.
This was one of the best episodes. I like that you always focus on the technical and historical facts and keep the ethical aspects out. We don’t need to hear how bad nuclear weapons are for the millionth time. Everybody knows that already and not covering the topic won’t make them disappear.
Thank you for your great work.
Awesome work, thanks Markus! Clearheaded and well-presented discussion about a very interesting topic. I hope we hear more from Alex, he is a really good guest!
Scary topic, great episode, good to follow explanations from your guest!
Only just got around to listening to this episode. Very informative and easy to understand.
As someone born two years after Hiroshima, I grew up with the threat of WW3 being a part of life.
Hearing the hardware that shaped that scenario described in such detail has been fascinating.
Great episode! Great guest!
If you’re personally not interested in tanks or guns, then perhaps it makes sense not to cover them in OT. But it would be a pitty not to discuss such topics only because of the delicate matter. “Science and Engineering” – military weapons are maybe the best match for this statement. Given the budgets there should be even more science and cutting edge technology in there than in civil technology.
Needless to say that I say this as a pacifist. Technology is fascinating, no matter which purpose. And – after having covered thermonuclear warheads and phrases like “more bang for the bucks”, it can’t get any more “unethical” anyway ;-)
I am genuinely not interested in guns. So I really won’t cover them. Tanks might be a different matter, but I’d only cover them if I’d get a chance to drive one. However, this is unlikely, since the three tanks in the German army that are not broken are probably needed by the soldiers :-)
Just finished this episode. Still interesting and relevant years later. But now had to realize that Alex still didn’t finish his book (as far as I can tell) which really is a shame :-(
For those interested: the book will be out this spring! https://alexwellerstein.com/writing/books/restricted-data/