Neutron bomb

A neutron bomb or enhanced radiation weapon (ERW) or weapon of reinforced radiation is a type of thermonuclear weapon designed specifically to release a large portion of its energy as energetic neutron radiation rather than explosive energy. Although their extreme blast and heat effects are not eliminated, it is the enormous radiation released by ERWs that is meant to be a major source of casualties. The levels of neutron radiation released are able to penetrate through thick, protective materials such as armor, making them useful as an anti-tank weapon.^[1]

Detailed description

A neutron bomb is a fission-fusion thermonuclear weapon (hydrogen bomb) in which the burst of neutrons generated by a fusion reaction is intentionally allowed to escape the weapon, rather than being absorbed by its other components. The weapon's X-ray mirrors and radiation case, made of uranium or lead in a standard bomb, are instead made of chromium or nickel so that the neutrons can escape.^{[citation needed]} The bombs also require amounts of tritium on the order of a few tens of grams.^[2]

The "usual" nuclear weapon yield—expressed as kT TNT equivalent—is not a measure of a neutron weapon's destructive power. It refers only to the energy released (mostly heat and blast), and does not express the lethal effect of neutron radiation on living organisms. Compared to a fission bomb with the identical explosive yield, a neutron bomb would emit about ten times^[3] the amount of neutron radiation. In a fission bomb, radiation pulse energy is approximately 5% of entire energy released; in the neutron bomb it would be closer to 50%.^{[citation needed]} Neutron bombs release a much higher amount of neutrons than a fission bomb of the same explosive yield. Furthermore, these neutrons are of much higher energy (14 MeV) than those release during a fission reaction (1-2 MeV).^[4]

History

Conception of the neutron bomb is generally credited to Samuel T. Cohen of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, who developed the concept in 1958.^[5] Testing was authorized and carried out in 1963 at an underground Nevada test facility.^[6] Development was subsequently postponed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 following protests against his administration's plans to deploy neutron warheads in Europe. President Ronald Reagan restarted production in 1981.^[7]

Three types of ERW were built by the United States.^[8] The W66 warhead, for the anti-ICBM Sprint missile system, was deployed in 1975 and retired the next year, along with the missile system. The W70 Mod 3 warhead was developed for the short-range, tactical Lance missile, and the W79 Mod 0 was developed for artillery shells. The latter two types were retired by President George H. W. Bush in 1992, following the end of the Cold War.^[9][10] The last W70 Mod 3 warhead was dismantled in 1996,^[11] and the last W79 Mod 0 was dismantled by 2003, when the dismantling of all W79 variants was completed.^[12]

Besides the United States and Soviet Union, France and China are understood to have tested neutron or enhanced radiation bombs in the past, with France apparently leading the field with an early test of the technology in 1967^[13] and an "actual" neutron bomb in 1980.^[14] The 1999 Cox Report indicates that China is able to produce neutron bombs,^[15] although no country is currently known to deploy them.

Considerable controversy arose in the U.S. and Western Europe, following a June 1977 Washington Post exposé describing U.S. government plans to purchase the bomb. The article focused on the fact that it was the first weapon specifically intended to kill humans with radiation.^[16][17] Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory director Harold Brown and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev both described the neutron bomb as a "capitalist bomb", because it was designed to destroy people while preserving property.^[18][19]

Use of neutron bomb

Neutron bombs are purposely designed with explosive yields lower than other nuclear weapons.^{[citation needed]} This is because neutrons are absorbed by air, so a high-yield neutron bomb is not able to radiate neutrons beyond its blast range and so would have no destructive advantage over a normal hydrogen bomb. This intense pulse of high-energy neutrons is intended as the principal killing mechanism, not the fallout, heat or blast. Although neutron bombs are commonly believed to "leave the infrastructure intact", current designs have explosive yields in the kiloton range,^[20] the detonation of which would cause considerable destruction through blast and heat effects.

Neutron bombs could be used as strategic anti-ballistic missile weapons or as tactical weapons intended for use against armored forces.^{[citation needed]} The neutron bomb was originally conceived by the U.S. military as a weapon that could stop Soviet troops from overrunning allied nations without destroying the infrastructure of the allied nation.^[21]

Use against armor

One of the uses for which this weapon was conceived is large-scale anti-tank weaponry. Armored fighting vehicles offer a relatively high degree of protection against heat and blast, the primary destructive mechanisms of normal nuclear weapons. That is, military personnel inside a tank can be expected to survive an "ordinary" nuclear explosion at relatively close range, while the vehicle's nuclear/biological/chemical protection systems ensure a high degree of operability even in a nuclear fallout environment.^{[citation needed]}

ER weapons are meant to kill a much higher percentage of enemy personnel inside such protected environments through the release of a higher percentage of their yield in the form of neutron ionizing radiation, against which tank armors, excluding depleted uranium, are ineffective.^{[citation needed]}

Questionable effectiveness in modern anti-tank role

The questionable effectiveness of ER weapons against modern tanks is cited as one of the main reasons why these weapons are no longer fielded or stockpiled. With the increase in average tank armor thickness since the first ER weapons were fielded, tank armor protection approaches the level where tank crews are now almost completely protected from radiation effects. Therefore for an ER weapon to incapacitate a modern tank crew through irradiation,^[22] the weapon must now be detonated at such a close proximity to the tank that the nuclear explosion's blast would now be equally effective at incapacitating it and its crew.^[23]

Use against ballistic missiles

As an anti-ballistic missile weapon, an ER warhead was developed for the Sprint missile system as part of the Safeguard Program to protect United States cities and missile silos from incoming Soviet warheads by damaging their electronic components with the intense neutron flux.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Nuclear fallout
• Nuclear strategy
• Nuclear warfare
• Nuclear weapon design

References

1. ^ Barriot, Patrick (2008). "Nuclear and radiological weapons". In Barriot, Patrick & Bismuth, Chantal. Treating victims of weapons of mass destruction: medical, legal, and strategic aspects. John Wiley & Sons. p. 180. ISBN 9780470066461. http://books.google.com/books?id=GgUFmDMazl0C&pg=PA180. 
2. ^ Kalinowski, Martin (2004). International control of tritium for nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. CRC Press. p. 10. ISBN 9780415316156. http://books.google.com/books?id=YThIeCSxVZ4C&pg=PA10. 
3. ^ Kistiakovsky, George (Sep 1978). "The folly of the neutron bomb". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 34: 27. http://books.google.com/books?id=aAoAAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA27&dq=8000%20rads%20of%20fast%20neutron%20radiation%20(from%20a%20neutron%20bomb)&pg=PA27#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 11 February 2011. 
4. ^ Hafemeister, David W. (2007). Physics of societal issues: calculations on national security, environment, and energy. Springer. p. 18. ISBN 9780387955605. http://books.google.com/books?id=LT4MSqv9QUIC&pg=PA18. 
5. ^ Robert D. McFadden (December 1, 2010). "Samuel T. Cohen, Neutron Bomb Inventor, Dies at 89". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/us/02cohen.html?_r=1&ref=science&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2010-12-02. "After the war, he joined the RAND Corporation and in 1958 designed the neutron bomb as a way to strike a cluster of enemy forces while sparing infrastructure and distant civilian populations." 
6. ^ "About: Chemistry article", by Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph. D
7. ^ "On this Day: 7 April". BBC. 1978-04-07. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/7/newsid_2523000/2523051.stm. Retrieved 2010-07-02. "Jimmy Carter's successor, Ronald Reagan, changed US policy and gave the order for the production of neutron warheads to start in 1981. ..." 
8. ^ Nuclear Weapon News and Background
9. ^ Christopher Ruddy (June 15, 1997). "Bomb inventor says U.S. defenses suffer because of politics". Tribune-Review. http://www.manuelsweb.com/sam_cohen.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-03. "With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communism as we knew it, the Bush administration moved to dismantle all of our tactical nuclear weapons, including the Reagan stockpile of neutron bombs. In Cohen's mind, America was brought back to Square One. Without tactical weapons like the neutron bomb, America would be left with two choices if an enemy was winning a conventional war: surrender, or unleash the holocaust of strategic nuclear weapons." 
10. ^ Types of Nuclear Weapons
11. ^ March 13, 1996
12. ^ National Nuclear Security Administration - Homepage
13. ^ BBC News: Neutron bomb: Why 'clean' is deadly
14. ^ UK parliamentary question on whether condemnation was considered by Thatcher government [1]
15. ^ U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China [2]
16. ^ Wittner, Lawrence S. (2009). Confronting the bomb: a short history of the world nuclear disarmament movement. Stanford University Press. pp. 132–133. ISBN 9780804756327. http://books.google.com/books?id=_fC7lAg5ZU0C&pg=PA132. 
17. ^ Auten, Brian J. (2008). Carter's conversion: the hardening of American defense policy. University of Missouri Press. p. 134. ISBN 9780826218162. http://books.google.com/books?id=asmyUHd3_oQC&pg=PA134. 
18. ^ National security for a new era: globalization and geopolitics after Iraq, Donald Snow
19. ^ Herken, Greff (2003). Brotherhood of the Bomb: The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller. Macmillan. p. 332. ISBN 9780805065893. http://books.google.com/books?id=7s0NGIfflOgC&pg=PA332. 
20. ^ List of All U.S. Nuclear Weapons
21. ^ Muller, Richard A. (2009). Physics for Future Presidents: The Science Behind the Headlines. W.W. Norton & Company. p. 148. ISBN 9780393337112. http://books.google.com/books?id=6DBnS2g-KrQC&pg=PA148. 
22. ^ http://collinsj.tripod.com/protect.htm average tank armor thickness increase
23. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=mYVNkaEJpz4C&pg=PA47&dq=%22main+battle+tank%22&hl=en&ei=aUEyTrr0Gun_sQL0i8HmCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAzgo#v=onepage&q=%22main%20battle%20tank%22&f=false New Scientist March 13 1986 pg 45

Further reading

• Cohen, Sam, The Truth About the Neutron Bomb: The Inventor of the Bomb Speaks Out, William Morrow & Co., 1983, ISBN 0-688-01646-4
• Cohen, Sam, "Shame: Confessions of the Father of the Neutron Bomb", Xlibris Corporation, 2000, ISBN 0-7388-2230-2^{[unreliable source?]}

External links

• Strategic Implications of Enhanced Radiation Weapons
• Nuclear Files.org Definition and history of the neutron bomb