Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

N. Korean nuclear blast probably less powerful than hoped for: Yale scholar
Yonhap News ^ | 05/28/09 | Sam Kim

Posted on 05/28/2009 6:44:23 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster

N. Korean nuclear blast probably less powerful than hoped for: Yale scholar

By Sam Kim

SEOUL, May 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korea apparently failed to achieve desired explosiveness in its second nuclear test, a Yale University professor says, citing seismic readings that have been generated by it.

North Korea set off an underground nuclear explosion on Monday, creating a shock that registered 4.52 in magnitude on the Richter scale, according to a Vienna-based anti-nuclear weapons organization.

North Korea produced a magnitude of 4.1 in its first test in October 2006, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty says.

Jefferey Park, director of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, said the seismic data from Monday's test indicate that North Korea failed to create a "Hiroshima-class crude explosive device."

"It was too small," he wrote on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, referring to the explosion.

Using what he called standard conversions, Park, a geologist, said North Korea appears to have produced a force of 4 kilotons or less through the test that took place in the northeastern region.

"That's a lot of energy, much larger than the 2006 North Korean test, but it still falls far short of an expected 12-20 kiloton yield of a crude Hiroshima-style device," he said. North Korea is believed to have produced less than 1 kiloton in its previous test.

Park said if North Korea had built a detonator precise enough, it would have obtained a yield of 10-20 kilotons. One kiloton is equal to 1,000 tons of TNT.

"My guess is that North Korea tried and failed to get a simple plutonium bomb to detonate correctly," he said.

But he said the latest explosion should not be taken as a failure, warning, "Make no mistake -- an inefficient nuclear weapon is nothing to dismiss."

"Even at the low end of its estimated yield (2 kilotons), the May 25 test released as much or more explosive energy than the largest conventional-explosive air raids during World War II," he said.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: nkorea; nucleartest; yield
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-56 next last
To: TigerLikesRooster
Wow - what auditorium is that? How many does it hold, and is it air conditioned??

I still believe that these “tests” are for military purposes first (see the small bomb theory), and advertising second to potential buying who can send over cash to keep the regime afloat.

21 posted on 05/28/2009 7:08:48 AM PDT by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

Exactly. That’s why this geologist is dead wrong in thinking they are building primitive fat boy type nukes.
They would be concentrating their efforts on making modern miniaturized nukes similar to ours, and NOT wasting their limited plutonium supply. A 4KT blast could mean they had a very successful test, after following the directions at ‘howstuffworks.com’ LoL!


22 posted on 05/28/2009 7:08:58 AM PDT by Nathan Zachary
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

Their goal isnt a miniature deliverable. They just need something that goes “boom” down in a hole. That achieves Kim’s goal of squeezing money out of the USA. We got a weak naive president in January. He figured out how to play his guy in a nanosecond.

The proper way to measure the yield of a North Korean is not in Kilotons,,,it’s more properly measured in billion’s of dollars bluffed out of the USA!!


23 posted on 05/28/2009 7:15:00 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs earn the title of "man's best friend", Muslims hate dogs,,add that up.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

For all we know, they were testing a nuclear trigger. Our nukes have triggers that put out as much power as the nagasaki bomb.


24 posted on 05/28/2009 7:16:17 AM PDT by Nathan Zachary
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Nathan Zachary
Wouldn't that be embarrassing if our aging nuke failed to go off...

And supplied them with a design and a bucket of fissile material...

25 posted on 05/28/2009 7:17:05 AM PDT by Onelifetogive (Check out Puppy News at www.buyingapuppy.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Nathan Zachary
Of course, they will have a better detonator at the next time. Which means using the same amount of plutonium but creating a bigger yield.
26 posted on 05/28/2009 7:18:15 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster (LUV DIC -- L,U,V-shaped recession, Depression, Inflation, Collapse)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

the homogeniety always astounds me.


27 posted on 05/28/2009 7:19:27 AM PDT by thefactor (yes, as a matter of fact, i DID only read the excerpt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: DesertRhino

I can’t believe that. They want regional power as well, power over Japan, a deterrence to China and Russia, major influence over S.korea, and something salable, which they THEN can blackmail billions from the USA with, much like Pakistan does.


28 posted on 05/28/2009 7:23:42 AM PDT by Nathan Zachary
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

The Dear Leader's Peoples' Committee for Cultural and Racial Diversity of the North in Praising the Great Works of Communism holds its weekly meeting -- NY Times

29 posted on 05/28/2009 7:24:43 AM PDT by pabianice
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: pabianice

Not a lot of “empathy” in NoKo.


30 posted on 05/28/2009 7:25:20 AM PDT by dfwgator (1996 2006 2008 - Good Things Come in Threes)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster
Yep. They have to know that using plutonium to force other tamper materials to fission rather than just using plutonium as the fissile material is the way to go.

Surely people don't think their scientists are cave men.

31 posted on 05/28/2009 7:30:45 AM PDT by Nathan Zachary
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: pabianice

WOW...they look “happy.”


32 posted on 05/28/2009 7:35:19 AM PDT by Mister Muggles
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster
The money quote of the year: "Make no mistake -- an inefficient nuclear weapon is nothing to dismiss."

Gee, ya think?

33 posted on 05/28/2009 7:36:22 AM PDT by Oatka ("A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves." –Bertrand de Jouvenel)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MrB
correct; while we are poking fun about their “failure” on rockets and the size of the nuc’s it only takes a very small one to kill thousands...
34 posted on 05/28/2009 7:37:32 AM PDT by martinidon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: martinidon

The psychological effect is HUGE as well.

Just “North Korea Nukes Seoul”, no matter what the yield, is enough to cause huge disruptions worldwide.


35 posted on 05/28/2009 7:40:40 AM PDT by MrB (Go Galt now, Bowman later)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Nathan Zachary

And, for all we know, Obama will get his high powered foreign policy team together (aka Hillary) and start tough negotiations with North Korea. But first, they’ll need to offer them something as a sign of good faith...something like our nuclear trigger technology...yeah, that’ll get North Korea to come back to the bargaining table...


36 posted on 05/28/2009 7:46:03 AM PDT by Paco
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Sam's Army

They also told us that “nuclear shelters” wouldn’t work. Not against a volly of bombs by the major nuclear powers but ultimately there were people in Japan who were partially burned by where they were exposed.

Depends on the yield of the bomb.

If you are at ground zero you don’t have much hope but beyond that...


37 posted on 05/28/2009 7:49:20 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Justice is blind. Sonia Sotomayor is not even qualified to sit on an IMPARTIAL jury.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Paco
When Barack Obama was in college he made a statement about "when we were kids, practicing nuclear drills in school" (paraphrased) yet he grew up in Indonesia, not the US school system. And the duck and cover drills of old were over by the 1970s when he returned to the States (Hawaii).

I went through tornado drills living on the Gulf Coast. Maybe he was just confused. Or lying again.

38 posted on 05/28/2009 7:51:35 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Justice is blind. Sonia Sotomayor is not even qualified to sit on an IMPARTIAL jury.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: pabianice
Hey, isn't that Buddy Hackett, second row on the aisle?


39 posted on 05/28/2009 7:52:10 AM PDT by GalaxieFiveHundred
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: martinidon

What’s the carbon footprint?

Where is the no nukes crowd?

How many animals and weeds were killed?


40 posted on 05/28/2009 7:52:37 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Justice is blind. Sonia Sotomayor is not even qualified to sit on an IMPARTIAL jury.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-56 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson