Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!bellcore!att!cbnews!military From: sfn20715@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Norton) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Shielding on nukes Message-ID: <8522@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 22 Jul 89 04:44:49 GMT Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Lines: 23 Approved: military@att.att.com From: Steve Norton /* Written 8:34 pm Jul 19, 1989 by arf@chinet.chi.il.us in uxa.cso.uiuc.edu:sci.military */ /* ---------- "Shielding on nukes" ---------- */ If a warhead is not shielded, wouldn't it represent a hazzard for personnel envolved in their handling, storage training etc? I for one, would be very interested in more information on the subject. +-+-+-+-+-+ While researching a debate on the SDI, I came across some interesting things about the reentry vehicles used by warheads. Apparently, the plutonium used to initiate the fusion reaction slowly decays, releasing alpha particles (is this right? i dont remember) but they are stopped by the thin metal coating of the warhead. No radiation is released by the warheads become "hot to the touch", i.e. 100+ deg F. {(This is incidentally, why warheads are so easy to detect -- the near vacuum of low earth orbit is usuall several hundred degrees below zero. Any IR detector that misses a warhead would have to be really screwed up...)