Geopolitical Darwin Awards

[Major Variola (ret)]

At 11:42 AM 9/20/04 -0500, J.A. Terranson wrote:
>On Sun, 19 Sep 2004, Major Variola (ret) wrote:
>
>> (Remember the
>> Hiroshima bomb was *not* tested, so sure were the scientists.
Trinity
>
>My understanding (and I am *positive* someone will correct me if I'm
>wrong) was that there was a shortage of both fissionable materials and
>appropriate [altimeter] fuse mechanisms, making testing a outside of
enemy
>territory a losing proposition.

Fissiles were expensive, still are, but the design of U-gun is better
(if you can afford the enrichment) because of U's lower spontaneous
fission rate, ie fewer spare neutrons to spoil the fun.  Even pure
Pu-239,
the result of short irradiation, has a problem with premature
ejaculation.