Mark Terka says:
Not to mention the fact that without tritium, the "trigger" for nuclear weapons (and extremely expensive and rare at $ 100m a gram) all you have is a radioactive paperweight.
This is sheer ignorance. First of all, tritium is not nearly that expensive. Its quite cheap, in fact, and can be manufactured without that much trouble. Second of all, tritium is not a necessary component of non-thermonuclear (i.e. hydrogen) bombs. Third, tritium isn't a "trigger". Lastly, an ordinary A-bomb is just a way to bring together a critical mass of a fissionable material, like U-235 or Plutonium. Once a critical mass is in one place the chain reaction will handle the rest.
Quite true. All you really need for a fission bomb is a casing to hold everything together, 2.2 kilos (or so) of U-235 (or a sufficient quantity of critical mass other stuff <grin>), and something that will hold it together long enough for it to fission. And no, Taylor, holding them together in your hands won't work (unfortunately)... hehehe :) "Hey, Bill? Hold these two shiny pieces of metal in your hands and clap! Oh, wait about an hour while I get a safe distance away..." :) Exotic way to commit suicide, methinks. Kiddies, don't try this at home - leave this to the professional idiots... ;) Kinda reminds me of Congress... ;) -- 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"