Why it’s so hard to tell if North Korea used a plutonium or (much scarier) uraniam bomb
There are a couple of possible clues, but at this point that’s all they are. North Korean state media bragged that Pyongyang’s nuclear deterrence is now “diversified,” which might hint that it started using uranium. On the other hand, state media also claimed that North Korea had “miniaturized” its warhead, which would make it more suitable for use in a bomb or even a missile; Reuters reported that plutonium is the better-suited material for this purpose. Although when I asked Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear proliferation expert who specializes in East Asia, whether or not this was accurate, he responded, “No, that seems to be speculation. Good news is the author has a 50/50 chance of being right.”
So how do we find out for sure? That “requires quick detection and analysis of the different types of xenon gases produced in an atomic explosion,” according to a recent New York Times story. The United States has special, highly sensitive airborne monitoring equipment and radiological stations around the world. The xenon gas has to be measured within the first 10 to 20 hours after the explosion, but the problem is that it can take a few days for the gas to leak out of North Korea’s underground testing facility.
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This “uraniam” stuff — it’s available down at the local drug store. This is, after all, 2013.
unclesmrgol on February 13, 2013 at 11:24 AM
Why would a “Uranium” bomb be much scarier? Personally, I find the Pu-239 weapon scarier, because it requires technical sophisication to use.
JFKY on February 13, 2013 at 11:27 AM
I find it even scarier that “Teh 0ne” really didn’t seem to mind much that North Korea let one go.
And that Hagel might be confirmed.
ProfShadow on February 13, 2013 at 11:35 AM
He spelled Iranian wrong.
BL@KBIRD on February 13, 2013 at 11:52 AM
Maybe the Korea expert on Obama’s Asia team can help. Oh, wait, there is no Korea expert on Obama’s Asia team.
Christien on February 13, 2013 at 12:06 PM
You answered your own question.
Yeah, a Pu-239-bomb is harder to build… by comparison, a U-235-bomb is a snap to build, and easier to ‘down-scale’.
A ‘small’ Pu-based warhead is for missiles.
A small U-based warhead is ‘other’ uses… and other potential means of delivery.
CPT. Charles on February 13, 2013 at 12:22 PM
Does it really matter as much as whether the norks are building high altitude electromagnetic pulse weapons? 10kt is the optimum size and there are reports that HEMP technology “leaked” (was sold to) the norks. So the norks might have a delivery system and weapon system that can knock out the electrical grid of any modern country–Japan, S. Korea, USA, Canada.
iconoclast on February 13, 2013 at 12:30 PM
I don’t care what type of bomb they have. I just don’t like the fact that this nutcase of a regime has one and would be more than happen to sell one to anyone in the world. Japan, South Korea and even the United States should be very concerned.
SC.Charlie on February 13, 2013 at 1:15 PM
This is the kind of reporting you get when the agenda is more important than the factual information in the story. What kind of detonation it was could be determined by what the value of and various types of seismic waves it produced. Checking the Xeon and Krypton gas concentrations represents a secondary method of confirmation of what the P-wave, S-wave, Lamb wave, Longitudinal wave
Love wave and Surface wave data already indicates.
If you have ever seen a ground penetrating radar image or a geophysical mineral seismogram map you just ought to have some idea what the seismic wave information can tell about any explosion. Edward Teller, the father of the hydrogen bomb sat waiting in the basement of the physics department in Berkley, patiently watching a seismograph for the “Castle Bravo” detonation.
Castle Bravo took place at the now infamous Bikini Atoll somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 miles away from Berkley, and yet Eward Teller and his staff were the first American’s in the continental United States to know not only the the Castle Bravo detonation was a success, but to also know that the Castle Bravo shot had produced a larger explosion that anyone had expected.
SWalker on February 13, 2013 at 1:40 PM