Salted bomb

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A salted bomb is a nuclear weapon designed to function as a radiological weapon by producing larger quantities of radioactive fallout than unsalted nuclear arms. This fallout can render a large area uninhabitable. [1] The term is derived both from the means of their manufacture, which involves the incorporation of additional elements to a standard atomic weapon, and from the expression "to salt the earth", meaning to render an area uninhabitable for generations. The idea originated with Hungarian-American physicist Leo Szilard, in February 1950. His intent was not to propose that such a weapon be built, but to show that nuclear weapon technology would soon reach the point where it could end human life on Earth. [1]

Contents

No intentionally salted bomb has ever been atmospherically tested, and as far as is publicly known, none has ever been built. [1] However, the UK tested a one-kiloton bomb incorporating a small amount of cobalt as an experimental radiochemical tracer at their Tadje testing site in Maralinga range, Australia, on September 14, 1957. [2] The Russian triple "taiga" nuclear salvo test, as part of the preliminary March 1971 Pechora–Kama Canal project, converted significant amounts of stable cobalt-59 to radioactive cobalt-60 by fusion-generated neutron activation and this product is responsible for about half of the gamma dose measured at the test site in 2011. [3] [4] The experiment was regarded as a failure and was not repeated. [1]

A salted bomb should not be confused with a "dirty bomb", which is an ordinary explosive bomb containing radioactive material which is spread over the area when the bomb explodes. A salted bomb is capable of megatons of explosive force, which can contaminate a far larger area with far more radioactive material than even the largest practicable dirty bomb.

Design

Salted versions of both fission and fusion weapons can be made by surrounding the core of the explosive device with a material containing an element that can be converted to a highly radioactive isotope by neutron bombardment. [1] When the bomb explodes, the element absorbs neutrons released by the nuclear reaction, converting it to its radioactive form. The explosion scatters the resulting radioactive material over a wide area, leaving it uninhabitable far longer than an area affected by typical nuclear weapons. In a salted hydrogen bomb, the radiation case around the fusion fuel, which normally is made of some fissionable element, is replaced with a metallic salting element. Salted fission bombs can be made by replacing the neutron reflector between the fissionable core and the explosive layer with a metallic element. The energy yield from a salted weapon is usually lower than from an ordinary weapon of similar size as a consequence of these changes.

The radioactive isotope used for the fallout material would be a high-intensity gamma ray emitter, with a half-life long enough that it remains lethal for an extended period. It would also have to have a chemistry that causes it to return to earth as fallout, rather than stay in the atmosphere after being vaporized in the explosion. Another consideration is biological: radioactive isotopes of elements normally taken up by plants and animals as nutrition would pose a special threat to organisms that absorbed them, as their radiation would be delivered from within the body of the organism.

Radioactive isotopes that have been suggested for salted bombs include gold-198, tantalum-182, zinc-65, and cobalt-60. [1] Sodium-23, the only stable isotope, has also been proposed as a casing for a salted bomb. Neutron flux would activate it to 24
Na, which would produce intense gamma-ray emissions for several days after the detonation. [5] [6] Physicist W. H. Clark looked at the potential of such devices and estimated that a 20  megaton bomb salted with sodium would generate sufficient radiation to contaminate 200,000 square miles (520,000 km2) (an area that is slightly larger than Spain or Thailand, though smaller than France). Given the intensity of the gamma radiation, not even those in basement shelters could survive within the fallout zone. [7] However, the short half-life of sodium-24 (15 h) [8] : 25  would mean that the radiation would not spread far enough to be a true doomsday weapon. [7] [9]

A cobalt bomb was first suggested by Leo Szilard in 1950. He publicly sounded the alarm against the possible development of salted thermonuclear bombs capable of annihilating mankind on a University of Chicago Round Table radio program. [10] [11] His comments, as well as those of Hans Bethe, Harrison Brown, and Frederick Seitz (the three other scientists who participated in the program), were attacked by the Atomic Energy Commission's former Chairman David Lilienthal, and the criticisms plus a response from Szilard were published. [11] Time compared Szilard to Chicken Little while the AEC dismissed his ideas, but scientists debated whether it was feasible or not. [9] The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists commissioned a study by James R. Arnold, who concluded that it was. [12] In his 1961 essay, Clark suggested that a 50 megaton cobalt bomb did have the potential to produce sufficient long-lasting radiation to be a doomsday weapon, in theory, but was of the view that, even then, "enough people might find refuge to wait out the radioactivity and emerge to begin again." [7] [9]

See also

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There are 20 isotopes of sodium (11Na), ranging from 17
Na to 39
Na, and two isomers. 23
Na is the only stable isotope. It is considered a monoisotopic element and it has a standard atomic weight of 22.98976928(2). Sodium has two radioactive cosmogenic isotopes. With the exception of those two isotopes, all other isotopes have half-lives under a minute, most under a second. The shortest-lived is the unbound 18
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Co
. Measurable quantities are also produced as a by-product of typical nuclear power plant operation and may be detected externally when leaks occur. In the latter case the incidentally produced 60
Co
 is largely the result of multiple stages of neutron activation of iron isotopes in the reactor's steel structures via the creation of its 59
Co
 precursor. The simplest case of the latter would result from the activation of 58
Fe
. 60
Co
 undergoes beta decay to the stable isotope nickel-60. The activated cobalt nucleus emits two gamma rays with energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV, hence the overall equation of the nuclear reaction is: 59
27Co
 + n → 60
27Co
 → 60
28Ni
 + e− + 2 γ

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sublette, Carey (May 1, 1998). "Types of Nuclear Weapons – Cobalt Bombs and Other Salted Bombs". Nuclear Weapons Archive Frequently Asked Questions. Archived from the original on September 28, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  2. ↑ Sublette, Carey (August 23, 2007). "British Nuclear Testing". Nuclear Weapons Archive. Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  3. ↑ Ramzaev, V.; Repin, V.; Medvedev, A.; Khramtsov, E.; Timofeeva, M.; Yakovlev, V. (2011). "Radiological investigations at the "Taiga" nuclear explosion site: Site description and in situ measurements". Journal of Environmental Radioactivity . 102 (7): 672–680. Bibcode:2011JEnvR.102..672R. doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2011.04.003. PMID   21524834.
  4. ↑ Ramzaev, V.; Repin, V.; Medvedev, A.; Khramtsov, E.; Timofeeva, M.; Yakovlev, V. (2012). "Radiological investigations at the "Taiga" nuclear explosion site, part II: Man-made γ-ray emitting radionuclides in the ground and the resultant kerma rate in air". Journal of Environmental Radioactivity . 109: 1–12. Bibcode:2012JEnvR.109....1R. doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2011.12.009. PMID   22541991.
  5. ↑ "Science: fy for Doomsday" . Time . November 24, 1961. Archived from the original on March 14, 2016.
  6. ↑ Clark, W. H. (1961). "Chemical and Thermonuclear Explosives". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists . 17 (9): 356–360. Bibcode:1961BuAtS..17i.356C. doi:10.1080/00963402.1961.11454268.
  7. 1 2 3 Clark, W. H. (1961). "Chemical and Thermonuclear Explosives". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists . 17 (9): 356–360. Bibcode:1961BuAtS..17i.356C. doi:10.1080/00963402.1961.11454268.
  8. ↑ Audi, G.; Kondev, F. G.; Wang, Meng; Huang, W. J.; Naimi, S. (2017). "The NUBASE2016 evaluation of nuclear properties" (PDF). Chinese Physics C . 41 (3): 030001. Bibcode:2017ChPhC..41c0001A. doi: 10.1088/1674-1137/41/3/030001 .
  9. 1 2 3 "Science: fy for Doomsday" . Time . November 24, 1961. Archived from the original on March 14, 2016.
  10. ↑ Lanouette, William; Silard, Bela A. (1992). Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, The Man Behind The Bomb. New York: C. Scribner's Sons. pp.  317, 366. ISBN   9780684190112.
  11. 1 2 Bethe, Hans; Brown, Harrison; Seitz, Frederick; Szilard, Leo (1950). "The Facts About the Hydrogen Bomb". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists . 6 (4): 106–109. Bibcode:1950BuAtS...6d.106B. doi:10.1080/00963402.1950.11461233.
  12. ↑ Arnold, James R. (1950). "The Hydrogen-Cobalt Bomb". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists . 6 (10): 290–292. Bibcode:1950BuAtS...6j.290A. doi:10.1080/00963402.1950.11461290.
  13. ↑ Smith, P. D. (25 September 2008). "Doomsday Men: The Real Dr Strangelove and the Dream of the Superweapon". Penguin UK.
  14. ↑ Kuberski, Philip (2012). Kubrick's Total Cinema: Philosophical Themes and Formal Qualities. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN   9781441149565.
  15. ↑ "No Mr Bond, I don't know about anything radioactivity". Science by degrees. 2018-02-21. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  16. ↑ "Excerpt from The Sum of All Fears". Penguin Random House Canada. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
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