17 Dec
2003
17 Dec
'03
11:17 p.m.
At the risk of pushing this even further from cryptography, I should say that tritium is used in the "boosting" of *fission* weapons. A mixture of tritium and deuterium is injected into the exploding fission core to increase the "alpha" (neutron multiplication "gain") of the system. The D-T thermonuclear reactions themselves contribute relatively little energy, but the increase in fission efficiency can be dramatic.
Been reading our Tom Clancey, have we? <grin> -- Ed Carp, N7EKG Ed.Carp@linux.org, ecarp@netcom.com Finger ecarp@netcom.com for PGP 2.5 public key an88744@anon.penet.fi If you want magic, let go of your armor. Magic is so much stronger than steel! -- Richard Bach, "The Bridge Across Forever"