Salted bomb

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As a salted bomb ( English for salted bomb ) is called a theoretical concept of the nuclear weapon design , after which a reinforcement and extension of the duration of the fallout occurs. The principle of the salted bomb was first postulated in February 1950 by Leó Szilárd . Szilárd, who was involved in the construction of the first nuclear weapon , did not want to propose the construction of such a bomb, but to draw attention to the fact that weapons are conceivable that could lead to the annihilation of all humanity. It is not known whether such a bomb was ever built.

Postulated mode of action

The concept of the salted bomb includes large quantities of a stable isotope that is built into the shell of a fission or fusion bomb . The isotope is converted into a highly radioactive form ( artificial radionuclide ) by the neutrons released during the explosion . This leads to a significantly stronger nuclear contamination than with conventional nuclear weapons and is intended to rule out survival in bunkers or after they have been left.

Szilárd based his calculations on cobalt -60, which, with a half-life of 5.26 years per nuclear decay, emits two gamma quanta with high permeability. The gamma radiation from such a bomb would exceed that of a conventional hydrogen bomb by 150 times in the first five years.

Other materials discussed are e.g. B. the also naturally occurring tantalum -181, which is converted by neutron bombardment into tantalum-182 with a half-life of 115 days; it would thus generate extremely strong radiation for a short time. It was also zinc -64 proposed which are enriched for use takes and is produced by neutron bombardment to zinc-65 with a half-life of 244 days, which would result in a higher radiation power to the period of eight months. Gold -197 would be converted to gold-198 with a half-life of only 2.69 days and thus only cause a comparatively short-term contamination.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David Tin Win, Md. Al Masum: Weapons of Mass Destruction. In: AU Journal of Technology. Vol. 6, No. 8, pp. 199–219 ( PDF )
  2. ↑ G. Buhshan, G. Katyal: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare. APH Publishing, New Delhi, 2002, ISBN 978-81-7648-312-4 , pp. 75ff.