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Re: Fission Efficiency


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: James Reese <james.reese@worldnet.att.net>
An: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Datum: Mittwoch, 04. Oktober 2000 06:30
Betreff: Fission Efficiency


>RADSAFERS
>
>I was reading an article recently which stated that nuclear weapons are
only
>33% efficient.  In other words, the article stated, only 33% of the
>plutonium would fission during the weapons detonation and the remainder
>would be distributed in the fallout.  This efficiency seems low to me, but
>then again, I am not an expert in this area.  Can anyone tell me if this
>statement is true?
>


Not being a specialist either, I would answer as follows: It depends........

I have read about a 10 % efficiency at least in the early days of nuclear
weapons. I suppose that much has been done to use the plutonium more
"efficiently" and to increase the efficiency, but more than 30% would really
be surprising. The percentage of Pu fissioned does not seem to be a crucial
point in hydrogen bombs, where the fission is only used to initiate the
fusion, the effect of which can more or less be tailored according to the
"customers" request. That really large amounts of plutonium have been
distributed over the whole world (more in the Northern than in the Southern
Hemisphere) is a fact.

Franz



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