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From: karish@mindcraft.com (Chuck Karish)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Thermonuclear Trigger
Summary: Fission trigger?
Message-ID: <1990Dec7.012233.2025@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 7 Dec 90 01:22:33 GMT
References: <1990Dec3.050137.1908@cbnews.att.com> <1990Dec4.002646.10188@cbnews.att.com>
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From: karish@mindcraft.com (Chuck Karish)
In article <1990Dec4.002646.10188@cbnews.att.com> henry@zoo.toronto.edu
(Henry Spencer) writes:
|The fission explosion
|used to compress and heat the fusion package is *not* called a "sparkplug".
|All current fusion bombs do need that one.  The question is whether current
|fusion bombs need a *second* fission assembly, inside the fusion assembly,
|to actually ignite the fusion reaction.  That's what a "sparkplug" is.  It
|is reported that US fusion bombs used to use sparkplugs, but that modern
|ones do not need them.

What about the polonium/beryllium igniters that were used in the
first fission bombs?  Are they still in use?
-- 

	Chuck Karish		karish@mindcraft.com
	Mindcraft, Inc.		(415) 323-9000		


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