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One little detail that I've brought out, and had overwhelmed with technobabble as only poohbah and a couple of others are prone to do, is that a "simple" nuke is just that--simple. The tech that took it from a fission device to a fission-fusion-fission H-Bomb was later incorporated in more potent basic nukes to get more yield.

I'm not a "nu-key-ear" engineer and I doubt that Any body else posting diversionary, lenghty replies are either. But this crap about a nuke having to be meticulously maintained/tended/refreshed is bogus from the bogus spewers.

A good example is the billions o' bucks we gave the Soviets to dismantle some of their nukes, why not just let them die on their own of "untendeditis"?

One little detail that I've brought out, and had overwhelmed with technobabble as only poohbah and a couple of others are prone to do, is that a "simple" nuke is just that--simple.

It's also very BIG.

The tech that took it from a fission device to a fission-fusion-fission H-Bomb was later incorporated in more potent basic nukes to get more yield.

Actually, boosting was introduced to increase the yield per pound of warhead weight. It made "fractional crit" devices possible because it created many more neutrons to initiate a reaction with. The development of hydrogen weapons was related, but proceeded on a parallel track instead. Suggested reading: Chuck Hansen's U.S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History (out of print, but available at any decent library), or Swords of Armageddon (an incredibly detailed archive of US nuclear weapons documents, available on CD-ROM from Chuck Hansen's website).

The great Holy Grail of nuclear weapons design is known as a "wooden bomb." Basically, it is a nuclear weapon that you can throw onto the shelf and leave there. It never happened. A nuclear warhead contains uranium or plutonium, which emits heat, gamma rays, and neutrons. That energy all has to go SOMEWHERE, and the path to that "somewhere" goes through explosive components (heat will cause the explosives to break down or evaporate away volatiles) or electronics (even "radiation hardened" electronics will degrade over time when exposed to neutrons). A "fractional crit" nuclear bomb that can fit in a suitcase also contains tritium, which has a half-life of 12.3 years. Trititum's decay product is ³He, which has a ravenous appetite for neutrons. Since the purpose of the tritium is to provide a high neutron flux through D-T fusion, even small amounts of helium will cause the device to not generate a significant nuclear yield. (Many of the Castle series tests "fizzled" because of helium contamination issues.)

A good example is the billions o' bucks we gave the Soviets to dismantle some of their nukes, why not just let them die on their own of "untendeditis"?

What, that program Bubba the Hutt sponsored, that sent a gazillion dollars into various Russian notables' Swiss bank accounts? The one that didn't result in a single nuke being verifiably disarmed? The one that Bubba insisted be kept going despite the evidence it didn't do a damn thing for us? The one that some eager beavers at DIA found out was actually paying for maintenance on the warheads in question, PREVENTING them from dying of untendeditis? THAT program? A weak reed to base your argument on, good sir.