Since 1945 nuclear physicists and engineers have continued to refine the methods by which explosive energy is extracted from the nuclei of atoms. The first successful attempt to do so was by fissioning, in a chain reaction, nuclei of uranium-235 or plutonium-239. This was the first generation of nuclear weapons, with energy releases of the order of 10–100 kilotons equivalent of TNT. Fission weapons presented an upper limit of explosive power, since it is not possible to assemble enough fissionable material to reach higher yields without reaching unwanted criticality.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
PreviewUnable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others NotesS. Glasstone and P. J. Nolan, The Effects of Nuclear Weapons (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1977), pp. 22 ff.
C. Robinson, Jr, ‘Panel urges defense technology advances’, Aviation Week and Space Technology, Vol. 119, no. 16 (17 October 1983 ), p. 17.
S. Glasstone and R. H. Lovberg, Controlled Thermonuclear Reactions (Princeton [1960]), p. 7.
K. Tsipis, Arsenal (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983), pp. 262 ff.
G. Kistiakowsky, ‘Enhanced radiation weapon alias the neutron bomb’, Technology Review, Vol. 80, no. 6 (May 1978), pp. 24 ff.
J. C. Fletcher, The Strategic Defense Initiative, Statement before the House Committee on Armed Services (1 March 1984 ), p. 6.
F. V. Bunkin et al., ‘Specifications for Pumping X-Ray Lasers with Ionizing Radiation’, Soviet Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 11, no. 7 (July 1981), pp. 971–2.
Chemical Rubber Company (CRC), Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (CRC Press, Cleveland, Ohio, 1980/81), p. E-154.
G. Chapline and L. Wood, ‘X-Ray Lasers’, Physics Today, Vol. 28, no. 6 (June 1975) p. 40.
F. V. Bunkin, et al., ‘Prospects of Light Amplification in the Far Ultraviolet’, Soviet Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 11, no. 8 (August 1981), pp. 1621–49. (Translated version, pp. 981–97.)
G. A. Robinson, Jr, ‘Advances Made on High Energy Lasers’, Aviation Week and Space Technology, Vol. 114, no. 4 (23 February 1981 ), pp. 25–7.
G. Field and D. Spergel, ‘Cost of Space-Based Laser Ballistic Missile Defense’, Science, Vol. 231 (21 March 1986), pp. 1387–94. See also R. L. Garwin, ‘How Many Orbiting Lasers for Boost Phase Intercepts’, preprint 14 March 1985.
IPRA Study Group, Weapons Technology and Disarmament and of Peace Research and European Security Studies (AFES-PRESS), Germany
Hans Günter Brauch (Chairman, Lecturer) (Chairman, Lecturer)
Institute of Political Science, Heidelberg University, Germany
Hans Günter Brauch (Chairman, Lecturer) (Chairman, Lecturer)
© 1989 Hans Günter Brauch
RetroSearch is an open source project built by @garambo | Open a GitHub Issue
Search and Browse the WWW like it's 1997 | Search results from DuckDuckGo
HTML:
3.2
| Encoding:
UTF-8
| Version:
0.7.4