How long the mountain would continue to stand would also depend on where the North Koreans placed the bombs, Wang said.
Yes, it could suddenly and mysteriously implode for unknown reasons, and as far as China is concerned, it would be Fat Boy’s fault for hollowing out the poor old mountain too much.
How much does one of these tests cost? (Prolly a lot of rice)
What is the Chinese word for "karma"?
LOL!
The Chinese scientists who were there helping are worried huh?
I’m guessing that this mountain will implode - somehow, mysteriously.
And with it, the nuclear program of DPRK.
That will be interesting.
The world is being set up with this story.
The mountain has been compromised by DPRK nuke tests. The mountain implodes, blamed on DPRK nuke tests. No more DPRK nuke program.
International cleanup required? Who knows, maybe. More “reason” to stop the DPRK nuke program.
“We call it ‘taking the roof off’. If the mountain collapses and the hole is exposed, it will let out many bad things.”
Well then, let’s “let the roof come off,” and hope the winds are blowing strongly in a westerly direction. Now that would be just deserts for China.
I bet China is not happy with this latest test. NK likely did not tell them of this test nor its size. The resulting implosion of the mountain will always be a big risk of radiation leaking......all in China’s backyard.
“We call it ‘taking the roof off’. If the mountain collapses and the hole is exposed, it will let out many bad things.”
Mothra? Rodan?
(Yes, I know, Japanese, no need to correct me)
Good post.
Here is an excellent (unclassified) report used by the CIA to determine yield:
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a223490.pdf
The claims by the Norks are highly suspect as the depth of the blast and the rock density are unknown. That’s why it’s called a heavily censored explosive yield.
I have seen the sniffing reports done by the Chinese and no radioactive markers have been released so far that are beyond background radiation.
If, if the 6.3 magnitude holds and that is unlikely, there is an absolute upper yield of around 600 kilotons. Looks like the magnitude will probably settle in at 5.9 so the upper theoretical yield would be no more than about 370 kilotons.
Guessing at the depth of the blast is difficult. Given that the blast cavern has already likely collapsed, with no surface emission the depth was likely at least 300 meters.
The rock density is fairly soft in that area allowing manual mining historically. So, the blast yield would likely be in the 110 to 160 kiloton range.
That is still a significant improvement for the Norks.
Boosted fission is very likely. The Nork’s main problem is acquiring refined beryllium. They have the ore but lack the very tricky refining technology. Even the Chinese have to buy it.
Without a significant beryllium neutron reflector, air blasts would be very inefficient compared to an underground test.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that the Norks do not care.
“Based on the fact that North Korea has a limited land area and bearing in mind the sensitivity of its nuclear programme, it most likely does not have too many suitable peaks to choose from.
How long the mountain would continue to stand would also depend on where the North Koreans placed the bombs, Wang said.”
The Chinese also said part of the problem is the North Koreans are being cheap about it and building hormonal tunnels rather than vertical tunnels, as everyone else does.
This is a man made disaster waiting to happen because north Korea can’t be troubled to do nuclear testing the smart way.
That said I doubt it will be that bad, the world has seen far worse. Mostly something for Japan, South Korea, China, and Russia to all yell at North Korea over.
Im still more worried about what they send our way.
It wouldn’t be a big surprise if the mountain is very fractured and unstable. I recall some discussion in the 70s of using a nuclear bomb to fracture an ore body in Arizona’s Galiuro Mountains so the ore could be leached in site. Obviously, the government thought it too risky and too politically difficult to go beyond the talking phase. North Korea has used far more energy in a geologically confined area and a lot of the rock is undoubtedly shattered. So this is what some would call a “Well duh!” moment.
Maybe they can stop using that site and use Guam instead. /s