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If he's got a tritium-boosted suitcase now, it sounds like he still has a wide time window of opportunity. Far too wide.

Depends on when the last infusion of tritium was placed into the bomb. If it was 6 to 8 years ago, there could be a significant yield of molecular Helium-3 already..

Btw, we are running into the same problems with upkeep of our own nukes, if I remember correctly. I seem to remember that the upkeep window is about 6 to 7 years for Tritium swapout.

"Btw, we are running into the same problems with upkeep of our own nukes, if I remember correctly. I seem to remember that the upkeep window is about 6 to 7 years for Tritium swapout."

Very valid comment.

We're supposedly using the necessary Tritium from deactivated Nukes to replenish.

An atomic or A-bomb may be constructed using a few tens of kilograms of highly enriched fissile uranium. This requires an enrichment plant to raise the low content of the fissile isotope of uranium (U235 at 0.7%) existing naturally, to a very high level of concentration (> 90%) by displacing the normally non-fissile isotope U238. Large quantities of natural uranium, in the form of milled uranium, refined to yellowcake and then converted to uranium hexafluoride, are required for this process. The depleted uranium (U238) by- product can be used as part of the fissile core of a nuclear warhead, first to contain the nuclear process and, instants later, contributing to the fission energy release.

To increase the yield and reliability of yield of an A- bomb, the enriched uranium can be replaced with a few kilograms of highly fissile plutonium. Plutonium is produced by reprocessing natural or low-enriched uranium spent fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor. This requires a fuel fabrication plant, a moderated or thermal reactor, and a reprocessing or chemical separation plant.

To advance the design of an A-bomb, it is advantageous to boost the initial fissioning of the plutonium. This is achieved by introducing a spurt of neutrons to the fissile heart of the warhead, either with a small pea- sized source of radioactive polonium combined with beryllium, or by creating neutrons from the fusing a few grams of radioactive tritium and deuterium. Both of these techniques require a nuclear reactor to generate the radioactive materials, and conventional chemical plants to isolate either the deuterium or beryllium, and to provide lithium as a source of tritium.

The yield of the warhead can be increased if the atomic fission stage, the A-bomb, is used to trigger a second stage involving fusion. This is the basis of a thermonuclear or H-bomb. For this, the intense and almost instantaneous energy of the A-bomb is deployed to fuse a few kilograms of tritium and deuterium. The tritium is generated within the warhead from a fusion fuel of lithium-deuteride, a simple hydride of lithium metal and heavy water, produced by conventional chemical processes. Further increase in the nuclear yield is gained if the energy from the fusion stage is applied to fissioning a mantle of depleted uranium (U238).