Nuclear weapons: Who has what?

Five nations are officially recognised as possessing nuclear weapons by the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

These are the US, the first to acquire nuclear capability in 1945, Russia (1949), the UK (1952), France (1960) and China (1964).

As information about nuclear arsenals is secret, there are only estimates about their nuclear weapons.

The Arms Control Association (ACA), a US weapons research organisation, estimates the number of strategic warheads held by these states to be about 6,000 for the US, 5,000 for Russia, 300 for China, 350 for France and under 200 for the UK.

The NPT, which has 187 signatories, was created to prevent other countries from acquiring nuclear capability, to promote cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to work towards nuclear disarmament.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was set up to verify compliance to the treaty through inspections, making sure that nuclear material or activities were not being used for military purposes.

Three states - India, Israel and Pakistan - never joined the treaty and are known to possess nuclear weapons.

Claiming its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes, India first tested a nuclear explosive device in 1974.

India and Pakistan both demonstrated their nuclear weapons muscle with a round of tit-for-tat tests in May 1998.

While Israel has not publicly conducted a nuclear test and does not admit or deny having nuclear weapons, it is widely believed to possess nuclear arms.

The ACA estimates India to have between 45 and 95 nuclear warheads, Pakistan, 30 and 50, and Israel, 75 and 200.

Iran is generally perceived to be secretly pursuing a nuclear arms program although it maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

The EU is engaged in negotiations with Tehran to urge it to suspend its nuclear activities while the US has stated that it will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.

North Korea, which this week announced it was pulling out of multi-lateral talks on its nuclear activities, is believed by the CIA to have one or two nuclear weapons.

The ACA says Pyongyang also has sufficient spent nuclear fuel that could be reprocessed into fissile material for as many as six nuclear bombs.

With the availability of foreign expertise, the CIA has raised concerns that Syria, which is an NPT member, could be trying to covertly acquire nuclear bombs.

One of the most recent successes in non-proliferation was in 2003 when Libya renounced its secret efforts to acquire nuclear capability.

*The US is also said to have some 3,000 warheads in reserve, while Russia has about 11,000 in non-operational stockpiles

South Africa was rumored to be involved with a Isreal research project. But some of the story indicated that it was a private company involved, and that the actual SA government didn't know anything much about the deal. There was a suggestion at some point of a test off the coast (underwater), and that it was discovered via the US government, who hinted to SA government that they ought to control things more. My guess is that the research continued on...just in another location.

I should add that nuclear research wasn't the only thing that SA companies were involved in. Bio warfare were also rumored with various other governments...again, under a commerical cover, with no SA government knowledge. Lets face it...the SA government hasn't really been that competent over the past 100 years. You shouldn't expect too much out of these guys.

I have to laugh. A nuclear weapon from smoke detectors. Now, I am NOT saying, that, with the proper enrichment, containment, triggering means, etc, that americium -241 COULDN't be made, to be a weapons-grade fuel,(but, probably not), BUT-- the very thought of some IDIOT thinking, that with a little gunpowder, pipes and tennis balls, you could fashion a working implosion assembly for a nuke. Obviously, this whole thing is a joke, and the feds must realize this, or it would not be on the net.

To begin with, the GENERAL design of a "nuclear trigger", or the "primary" section of a nuclear warhead, is and has been for a long time, public domain information, as shown in the diagram in an earlier post. BUT-- that diagram does NOT show the absolutely incredibly critical calculations and precise measurements, and such, that go into the design of the primary. When talking about sustaining a nuclear fission explosion, error tolerances for inaccuracies are in the NANOSECOND range, and ,if EVERYTHING, and I mean everything, is not right, for example, if one explosive "lens" detonates at a couple of microseconds too late, then, all you will get, is a small explosion, from the chemical explosives, and a serious amount of radioactive dust blown in many directions, in other words, a "dirty bomb".

To iniate an primary explosion, the chemical explosives must create a TOTALLY symmetrical wave, of compression, to crush the fissile material into a critical mass. Then too, is the NOT so small, matter of the neutron initiator. There must be some free neutrons injected into the core, to get the chain reaction started. ALSO, as shown in the diagram, there is the tritium/ deuterium gas , needed to "boost " the primary, so that it will deliver the proper nuclear yield, in heat and x-rays, needed to implode the secondary, and cause it to go to a fusion state,, BEFORE the explosive force, shatters everything into pieces. AGAIN, we are talking about a few microseconds. If the tritium boost is not correct, the primary will not deliver the proper yield, and the secondary will not function, and the result will be a small nuclear yield, with no multiplication from the fusion secondary,(which is where most of the yield in modern nuclear warheads comes from) known as a "fizzile". This, the depletion of the tritium reservoirs, is one of the problems facing our nuclear stockpile in this country, at this moment.

In short, good for a laugh, but that is all. Showing someone the diagram of a nuclear weapon, but no numerical details, or such, and then, expecting them to bulid a working device, is a lot like showing a builder a plan for a building, with no archeticual dimensions, and expecting them to build it.

Yes, there are other configurations, like those using a spherical thermonuclear secondary, but ALL h-bomb weapons, require a fission primary, to trigger the secondary, so it will generate the fusion yield, and the most compact, bang-for-you-buck primary design is the spherical implosion assembly, even though the "gun" assembly is simpler, and more reliable, it requires more fuel, and produces less yield, than the implosion design.

I DO agree though.... A "gun" type fission device, of simple design, one that could do TREMENDOUS damage,COULD be made by a terrorist organization.. IF they could get enough HEU fuel to build it. THAT, is the key, keep the weapons-grade fuel, OUT of the hands of our enemies.

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