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Posted on 10/13/2006 8:10:47 AM PDT by 1curiousmind
Four days after North Korea tried to set off its first nuclear bomb, U.S. intelligence agencies think the blast detected by seismic sensors was a plutonium-fueled device that did not fully explode. "The working assumption is that what happened, more likely than not, was an attempted nuclear test that fell far short of being successful," said one U.S. official familiar with the latest intelligence assessment. There is still no confirmation that North Korea succeeded in creating a nuclear explosion, and so far no radioactive particles that would confirm a successful nuclear test have been detected. The Washington Times first reported Tuesday that U.S. officials were having doubts, based on preliminary data, about North Korea's boasts about having successfully tested its first nuclear device. The latest intelligence estimates of Monday's test at a nuclear test site near Kilju, in northeastern North Korea, put the size of the blast at 0.2 kilotons, or the equivalent of 200 tons of TNT. A plutonium-fueled nuclear device normally creates a much larger blast, in the range of 5 kilotons to 20 kilotons. A kiloton is the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT. The detected explosion likely was produced by the conventional high-explosives used to split the plutonium atoms and produce a nuclear explosion, one official said. A second official said, "There was a yield that was in the several hundred ton range, but it at least partially failed." Complete analysis of the data could take weeks, the officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The good news for him is that his country should be mostly safe when he launches...
A conventional bomb in the 0.2 kiloton range is a distinct possibility. Perhaps this explosion was not nuclear at all, and was just a bluff.
I can't see any rational reason for North Korea to do this. But rationality has never been their strong suit.
"See, he does not have a nuclear weapon. We have nothing to worry about. Let' negotiate".
Such ridiculous logic is why libs are so dangerous. If they were around during Edison's time, they would have cut funding on his tests to develop the light bulb after his 700th failure, or maybe his 800th failure.
I actually heard some lib pundit profess a few days back that: "The blast was really small, maybe a quarter of the yield of Hiroshima. So, we should not over react".
Again, see how dangerous libs are. A quarter of the yield. Okay, that means a bomb like that, exploded in a densely populated area, would only kill maybe 50,000 instead of 200,000.
Liberals: "We will put anyones life at risk in order to regain our power"
No (working) nukes.
No (working) ICBMs.
Tell me why this guy frightens us, again?
It's the hair.
And all that "H-bomb" talk? Impotent rage. < Beavis > Heheheheh Heh Heh < /Beavis >
Half sized blast for a half sized jerk...
It's looking more and more like it. Considering all the calls for bilateral negotiations and the fact that they're heading into winter, it may have been a desperate attempt to force the US's hand.
For more go here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1717327/posts
He eats dogs and kimchi and wears pajamas in the daytime?
Yep, this could very well be the Mother Of All Bluffs. As to why Kimmy would do it, I suspect he's looking to sufficiently frighten the West (and the U.S. in particular) into not making any military moves against his regime, thinking we'd be unlikely to do so if we thought he had nukes.
Yup.
Because if he can make it...
He can sell it.
It's an issue of proliferation, not possession.
I was just thinking that when I realized that the plutonium is irretrievably lost and wasted. All that cost and work, all those peasants eating tree bark, for nothing. Nothing.
Because he's really just a big pimp?
(take a second for the music to load in)
http://jkiisapimp.ytmnd.com/
So he wrapped 200 tons of HE around a softball size sphere of plutonium in an attempt to detonate it? Think about that for a minute. This was a fizzle of a plutonium core. It worked, some. There was a reaction releasing alot of energy, but it didn't go boom. It fizzled. Sooner or later they will get one to go boom. Then what? Probably already has the necessary deuterium and a schematic (Soviet) to put it together. Enter the NK hydrogen bomb, just $200,000,000 asking price.
Or an attempt by Chia Head's minions to scam him in order to avoid the consequences of failure.
I dont think that they were testing a large device, I think that they were testing a very small device, suitcase device if you will, that can be transported either by hand or in a small vehicle. Ponder that for a bit.
Even a nuke device as small as the one you mentioned would emit radiation in sufficient quantities to be easily detectable, and we haven't been able to detect any.
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