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The first nuclear explosive devices provided the basic building blocks of future weapons. Pictured is the Gadget device being prepared for the Trinity nuclear test.. Nuclear weapons design are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package [1] of a nuclear weapon to detonate.
This form of radioactive contamination is known as nuclear fallout and poses the primary risk of exposure to ionizing radiation for a large nuclear weapon. Details of nuclear weapon design also affect neutron emission: the gun-type assembly Little Boy leaked far more neutrons than the implosion-type 21 kt Fat Man because the light hydrogen ...
A modulated neutron initiator is a neutron source capable of producing a burst of neutrons on activation. It is a crucial part of some nuclear weapons, as its role is to "kick-start" the chain reaction at the optimal moment when the configuration is prompt critical. It is also known as an internal neutron initiator.
The free neutrons are emitted with a kinetic energy of ~2 MeV each. Because more free neutrons are released from a uranium fission event than thermal neutrons are required to initiate the event, the reaction can become a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction under controlled conditions, thus liberating a tremendous amount of energy.
Furthermore, a tiny fraction of the free neutrons involved in the operation of a nuclear reactor decay to a proton and a beta particle before they can interact with anything else. Given that protons from this source are indistinguishable from protons from ternary fission or radiolysis of coolant water, their overall proportion is hard to quantify.
The central part of a neutron generator is the particle accelerator itself, sometimes called a neutron tube. Neutron tubes have several components including an ion source, ion optic elements, and a beam target; all of these are enclosed within a vacuum-tight enclosure.
He led teams working on the gun-type nuclear weapon design, and also participated in the development of the implosion-type nuclear weapon. McMillan co-invented the synchrotron with Vladimir Veksler, and after the war he returned to the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory to build them. He was appointed associate director of the Radiation Laboratory ...
Furthermore, the neutrons emitted by a neutron bomb have a much higher average energy level (close to 14 MeV) than those released during a fission reaction (1–2 MeV). [10] Technically speaking, every low-yield nuclear weapon is a radiation weapon, including non-enhanced variants.