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To: txflake

No, that is a popularly misunderstood myth. A neutron bomb produces a conventional fission explosion about the size of that used on Hiroshima from its primary. It is essentially a H-bomb with different casing and different ratios in the secondary. The secondary is designed to maximize neutron output that will kill in a ring around the primary explosion, leaving the infrastructure in that ring intact. It accomplishes this using super-cooled tritium gas instead of depleted uranium in the secondary “pencil.” This, and tritium’s 12-year half life, makes them considerably more expensive to maintain than your run-’o-the-mill H-bomb.

The advantage to this is that the x-rays and gamma-rays produced by the secondary are able to penetrate tank armor - even armor capable of surviving some of the blast itself. The same would apply to heavily-armored facilities as this one may have been. That is the real beauty of this weapon.

Hope that helps.


22 posted on 11/05/2007 10:13:43 PM PST by Lexinom (Your hopes and dreams rest on your right to life. GoHunter08.com)
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To: Lexinom

That does help - thank you, Sir.


24 posted on 11/05/2007 11:15:22 PM PST by txhurl (Yes there were WMDs)
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To: Lexinom
But the structures due north of the ex-reactor are unscathed - untouched. And they're only 1/4 mile or so away.

Does their status jibe with a neutron?

25 posted on 11/05/2007 11:37:56 PM PST by txhurl (Yes there were WMDs)
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