Nuclear shaped charges refers to
nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...
s that focus the energy of their explosion into certain directions, as opposed to a spherical explosion.
Edward Teller
Edward Teller ( hu, Teller Ede; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" (see the Teller–Ulam design), although he did not care fo ...
referred to such concepts as third-generation weapons, the first generation being the
atom bomb
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
and the second the
H-bomb
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
.
The basic concept has been raised on several occasions, with the first known references being part of the
Project Orion nuclear-powered spacecraft project in the 1960s. This used
beryllium oxide
Beryllium oxide (BeO), also known as beryllia, is an inorganic compound with the formula BeO. This colourless solid is a notable electrical insulator with a higher thermal conductivity than any other non-metal except diamond, and exceeds that of m ...
to convert the
X-rays
An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 Picometre, picometers to 10 Nanometre, nanometers, corresponding to frequency, ...
released by a small bomb into longer wavelength radiation, which explosively vaporized a tamper material, normally
tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...
, causing it to carry away much of the bomb's energy as
kinetic energy
In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion.
It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its accele ...
in the form of tungsten
plasma
Plasma or plasm may refer to:
Science
* Plasma (physics), one of the four fundamental states of matter
* Plasma (mineral), a green translucent silica mineral
* Quark–gluon plasma, a state of matter in quantum chromodynamics
Biology
* Blood pla ...
. The same concept was explored as a weapon in the
Casaba/Howitzer
Project Casaba-Howitzer was a 1960s-era study into the use of nuclear weapons as the drivers for intense beams of plasma for use in space warfare. The basic concept grew out of work on the Project Orion spaceship concept, which studied nuclear s ...
proposals.
The ideas were explored by
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...
as part of the
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derisively nicknamed the "''Star Wars'' program", was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons (intercontinental ballistic ...
.
Studies and Tests
Project Orion in the 1960s envisioned the use of nuclear
shaped charges
A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to form an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Different types of shaped charges are used for various purposes such as cutting and forming metal, init ...
for propulsion. The nuclear explosion would turn a tungsten plate into a jet of plasma that would then hit the drive pusher plate. About 85% of the bomb's energy could be directed into the target as plasma, albeit with a very wide cone angle of 22.5 degrees. A 4,000 ton spacecraft would use 5 kiloton charges, and a 10,000 ton spacecraft would use 15 kiloton charges. Orion also researched the possibility of nuclear shaped charges being used as weapons in
space warfare
Space warfare is hypothetical combat in which one or more belligerents are situated in outer space. The scope of space warfare therefore includes ''ground-to-space warfare'', such as attacking satellites from the Earth; ''space-to-space warfa ...
. These weapons would have yields of a few kilotons, could convert about 50% of that energy into a plasma jet with a velocity of 280 kilometers per second, and could theoretically get beam angles as low as 0.1 radians (5.73 degrees), quite wide but considerably narrower than the propulsion unit.
The nuclear shaped charge concept was also studied extensively in the 1980s as part of Project Prometheus, along with
bomb-pumped lasers. Using a combination of explosive wave-shaping and "gun-barrel" design, up to 5% of a small nuclear bomb could reportedly be converted into kinetic energy driving a beam of particles with a beam angle of 0.001 radians (0.057 degrees), far more concentrated than the earlier-proposed plasma jet, though this decreases to 1% efficiency at 50 kilotons (half a kiloton of energy in the beam) and efficiency suffers greatly at even higher yields. There has only been one known nuclear shaped charge test, conducted in 1985 as part of
Operation Grenadier
Operation Grenadier was a series of 16 nuclear tests conducted by the United States in 1984–1985 at the Nevada Test Site. These tests followed the ''Operation Fusileer'' series and preceded the ''Operation Charioteer'' series.
References ...
. During the test, codenamed 'Chamita', the intent was to use a nuclear detonation to accelerate a one kilogram mass of tungsten at one hundred kilometers per second, in the form of small particles focused in a cone-shaped beam. The test succeeded in propelling one kilogram of tungsten/molybdenum particles to seventy kilometers per second, about 0.59 tons of kinetic energy. As the yield of the detonated nuclear device was 8 kilotons, this came out to only 0.007% efficiency.
Princeton nuclear physicist Dan L. Fenstermacher stated that there is a fundamental problem associated with the Casaba Howitzer concept that becomes dire at higher yields: a good portion of the bomb's energy inevitably becomes
black-body radiation
Black-body radiation is the thermal electromagnetic radiation within, or surrounding, a body in thermodynamic equilibrium with its environment, emitted by a black body (an idealized opaque, non-reflective body). It has a specific, continuous spect ...
, which would quickly overtake the propelled mass. This poses the risk that most of the particles will be vaporized or even ionized, rendering them useless for dealing damage to the target. He concluded: "The NKEW concept is thus one that may ''require'' subkiloton explosives to be feasible... Whatever the case may be, it is clear that demonstrating a rush of hypervelocity pellets from a nuclear blast, while perhaps impressive, in no way guarantees that a useful weapon will ever be derived from this concept."
[Dan L. Fenstermacher]
The Effects of Nuclear Test-ban Regimes on Third-generation-weapon Innovation.
Princeton University, Science and Global Security, 1990, Volume 1, pp. 187-223. Page 209.
References
*
Nuclear weapons
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