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From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Nuclear vs. Thermonuclear (long)
Message-ID: <1990Nov21.221120.19837@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 21 Nov 90 22:11:20 GMT
References: <1990Nov20.021234.26577@cbnews.att.com>
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Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
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From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
>From: prm@ecn.purdue.edu
>... Inside the fuel capsule is a Oralloy "sparkplug"...

People in a position to know have been heard to state that modern US
thermonuclear weapons no longer need "sparkplugs" to ignite the fusion
reaction, although older ones did use them.

>Also, if anyone from Lawrence Livermore or Los Alamos can provide corrections
>or clarifications, I would be most appreciative.

I think it's unlikely that any of them will speak up, given the almost
obsessive secrecy about a lot of this stuff.  If you have a security
clearance, you think twice about even repeating published material, as
the security bureaucrats may claim that you've thus "confirmed" it.
-- 
"I don't *want* to be normal!"         | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
"Not to worry."                        |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu   utzoo!henry