[GingisK]

metal-lined to help concentrate the blast wave of the conventional explosives further...

Don't confuse the maintenance and lifetime issues of "hydrogen bombs" with those of "atomic bombs". These are worlds apart.

[Southack]

"Don't confuse the maintenance and lifetime issues of "hydrogen bombs" with those of "atomic bombs". These are worlds apart."

Early atomic bombs have ENORMOUS maintenance requirements.

Beryllium trigger isotopes can have as little as a 53 day half-life, for instance. Polonium 210, a Man-made isotope that can *only* be created in nuclear reactors or cyclotrons, has a 140 day half-life.

[Little Pig]

Don't fission bombs also use explosives to help initiate the reaction? I know fusion bombs do, and the explosives have to be arranged very carefully to ensure that the reaction can begin, but I thought fission bombs used them as well, if not in exactly the same manner.

[D Rider]

Don't confuse the maintenance and lifetime issues of "hydrogen bombs" with those of "atomic bombs". These are worlds apart.

?!! How so? If I remember correcty Russian H-bombss were on a 7 year rebuid cycle. Whats up with the atomics?