Russian Claims Chechens Have Nuclear Device

Newsmax ^

[Pendragon_6]

Boris Berezovsky has claimed that Chechen rebels possess a nuclear weapon.

“It is a small portable device which had not been used until now for only one reason: because some necessary element was missing,” the exiled Russian oligarch told Komsomolskaya Pravda, citing “credible sources.”

Berezovsky said he wrote a letter to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) about this danger last autumn.

Asked to respond to Berezovsky's claims about a Chechen nuke, a security official told the newspaper, “We do not believe it necessary to comment on statements, especially delirious ones, made by people who are on the international wanted list.”

But the Berezovsky claim matches that of U.S. security officials, who have said that al-Qaida has obtained a small nuclear device -- perhaps a “suitcase nuke” from the Russian arsenal. Sources have claimed that the weapons cannot be detonated because the trigger mechanism is not working.

[free_european]

Boris Berezovsky is a criminal and hardly credible.

[MeanWestTexan]

This style of nuke has a short shelf-life, too.

Various components must be periodically "refreshed" to keep a fusion bomb functional.

[Sender]

Somebody has one, and somebody will get one fixed up and working. It's inevitable. It's going to happen somewhere. It's just a matter of time.

[usgator]

This is getting out of hand.  There's a few people I'm pissed at ... can I join the Nuke of the Month Club, too?

Will Ethiopia become a nuclear superpower by 2010?

[usgator]

This style of nuke has a short shelf-life, too.

Pretty soon mankind will too.

[TKDietz]

Unfortunately, that's probably true. Eventually some crazy jerks are going to get a nuke and use the thing. I'm glad I don't live in a major metropolitan area.

[Lukasz]

Boris Berezovsky is a criminal and hardly credible.

Yes and other criminals want to punish him.

[zencat]

Various components must be periodically "refreshed" to keep a fusion bomb functional.

These small devices would have to be fission, but other than that you're correct. They require maintenance and have components that degrade.

[Walkingfeather]

I have long contended that if the russian mob sold off suit case nukes they would have disabled them some how. I mean where are you going to test it? Of course there was that ..."earthquake"? in the artic during clintons administration that looked like an explosion... but we will see.

[SMARTY]

I heard this back when the UN was first deployed to Kosovo. I have always half believed it.

[MeanWestTexan]

It is my understanding that Russia has a full-fledged suitcase fusion (hydrogen) weapon. The fission warhead to trigger the fusion is the size of a grapefruit.

[TKDietz]

Maybe they'll "test" it in the middle of a major American city.

[zencat]

"It is my understanding that Russia has a full-fledged suitcase fusion (hydrogen) weapon. The fission warhead to trigger the fusion is the size of a grapefruit."

Never heard that. From what I know of the Russian "suitcase" nukes they are 1/4 to 1Kt in size fission devices. I believe the smallest thermonuclear fusion device is the US W88 warhead. The design the Chi-Coms tried to steal.

[Walkingfeather]

Maybe they already have and nothing happened.

[MeanWestTexan]

I hope you are correct.

[Bon mots]

The smallest nuke the US ever deployed was the W-54 Davy Crockett (shown above with launcher).



Remember, the W-54 was from 1954! So this technology is half a century old. W-88 was from 1988... about the time we stopped building nukes.

[Former Proud Canadian]

Thanks, you beat me to it. The utility of a suitcase nuke for terrorists with limited acess to technology is grossly overstated.

[Bon mots]

W88/Mk-5 Warhead/Reentry Vehicle Package

Yield	475 Kt
Weight	<800 lb ?
Length	68.9 in
RV Base Diameter	21.8 in
Nose Half Angle	8.2 degrees
Number In Service	400

The w-88 package is under 900 lbs. But that's the whole re-entry package.

[zencat]

Yes, but the W-54 is a fission device with a yield around .5Kt or so. The W88, a small fusion device is 22 inches wide and 69 inches long with a yield of 475Kt.

500 tons of TNT, vs. 475,000 tons of TNT.

It's like 1/38 of a Hiroshima vs. 38 Hiroshimas.

James