Nuclear Weapons Material

[Mikolaj Habryn]

> 
> Fusion bombs I thought used tritium as fuel and needed a Plutonium
> trigger or something.  They are supposedly set off with some kind of
> inner mirrored ball with high powered lasers.  Fission then fusion I
> believe.
> 

	The plutonium trigger is set off using conventional explosives
to implode a hollow sphere of the material. While this technique is
superficially similar to the gun-type triggering used by U-235 fuelled
bombs, the geometry prevents the Pu-239 from fissioning prematurely.
	The tritium is used as a neutron source - it releases neutrons
when sufficiently motivated to do so.

-- 
*       *       Mikolaj J. Habryn
                dichro at tartarus.uwa.edu.au
    *           "I'm just another sniper on the information super-highway."
                PGP Public key available by finger
    *           #include <standard-disclaimer.h>