Transcript The Race to Build the ‘Super’

Thought for the Day…
• “It is still an unending source of surprise to me
to see how a few scribbles on a blackboard
could change the course of human affairs.”
– Stanislaw Ulam, Polish mathematician and ‘coinventor’ of the US hydrogen bomb
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The Race to Build the ‘Super’
• Consider the hydrogen bomb on a number of
levels such as…
• Consider the broader idea of how the H-bomb
represented quest for a technological solution
to a complex problem.
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What are the Effects of a Nuclear Explosion?
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Blast effects –
Thermal radiation – 35% of the energy,
Direct nuclear radiation
Fallout – Long term effects
Electromagnetic Pulse
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Consider the explosion of a nuclear device
(150KT) over Manhattan
1 second
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4 seconds
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6 Seconds
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10 seconds
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16 seconds
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Distance from
ground zero (mi.)
Population
Fatalities
Injuries
Uninjured
0 - 0.4
75,000
75,000
0
0
0.4 - 1.0
400,000
300,000
100,000
0
1.0 - 1.5
500,000
220,000
220,000
60,000
1.5 - 2.5
1,500,000
235,000
525,000
740,000
2.5 - 4.0
500,000
0
30,000
470,000
Totals
2,975,000
830,000
875,000
1,270,000
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How a Hydrogen Bomb Works
• Unlike fission weapons which get their energy
from the disintegration of elements like
uranium and plutonium, the hydrogen bomb is
a fusion weapon. The explosive energy comes
from the joining together of light elements like
hydrogen and lithium.
• Fusion is what powers the sun and other
stars…
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Hans A. Bethe
• German physicist; Ph.D. in
1928; Nobel in 1968.
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• Nuclear energy can also
be released by fusion of
two light elements
(elements with low
atomic numbers).
• In H-bomb, two
isotopes of hydrogen,
deuterium and tritium
are fused to form a
nucleus of helium and a
neutron.
• This fusion releases a
great deal of energy.
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• Unlike nuclear fission, there is no limit on the
amount of the fusion that can occur (i.e. bombs
can be made as big as desired)
• The ingredients are cheap and plentiful.
• Plus – U-238 is usually the material used in
various parts of the bomb's design to supply
additional neutrons for the fusion process. This
also produces a very high level of radioactive
fallout.
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Nuclear Fusion
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The Technical Problem
• The question facing designers was “How do
you build a bomb that will maintain the high
temperatures and high pressures required for
thermonuclear reactions to occur?”
• This became one of the focal points of work
for scientists working on the H-bomb.
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The Life and Times of Edward Teller
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Early History of the H-bomb
• Idea for a fusion bomb first proposed by Teller
in 1942 and worked on by Bethe, Teller, et al.
at Los Alamos.
• Work at Los Alamos, to Teller’s
disappointment, focused on fission weapons
for the war.
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1946, Los Alamos
“Super” Conference
• April 1946, about 30 scientists attend top
secret meeting
• Teller describes his “classical” Super
• Klaus Fuch (Soviet spy) also in attendance
• Teller’s design proved unworkable by 1950
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Initial Efforts to Design the ‘Super’
• Ex: Teller’s “tube design”
• See article by Bethe for lots more detail
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The General Advisory Committee (GAC) to the
Atomic Energy Commission
• 1949; GAC advised the AEC on matters of
science and policy
• Group of several high-powered scientists.
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Oppenheimer (chair)
Lee DuBridge (president, Caltech)
Enrico Fermi (Nobel)
Isidor Rabi (Nobel)
James Conant (president, Harvard)
• “…over my dead body”
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The GAC Report
• Group meets Oct. 28-29, 1949
• Issues a majority and minority opinion
– Majority (Oppenheimer, DuBridge, Conant, et al.)
• US should not pursue the Super under any
circumstances. It is a “weapon of genocide” which has
no military value and would turn world opinion against
the US. The US can and will have adequate number of
fission bombs so as not to need the Super.
• Conant: “This whole discussion makes me feel I was
seeing the same film, and a punk one, for the second
time.”
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• Minority (Rabi and Fermi)
– It is “necessarily an evil thing in any light” which
“cannot be justified on any ethical ground which
gives a human being a certain individuality and
dignity.”
– However – US should not unilaterally commit to
not building it, but such a decision should be
conditional on Soviet renunciation of future
development.
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Summary so far…
• H-bomb has practically unlimited explosive
potential. Requires an atomic bomb (!) to set it
off and ignite the fusion reaction.
• Challenge to the weaponeers was how to do
this.
• H-bomb decision divisive among scientists.
• GAC report recommends against ‘Super’
• Report goes ‘up’ to the AEC commissioners
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Enter Lewis L. Strauss
• 1896-1974; former shoe salesman turned millionaire banker
and atomic enthusiast; played a pivotal role in shaping US
nuclear policy.
• Member of AEC Commission, close connections with Truman
and (later) Eisenhower.
• Advocates crash program to build H-bomb.
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Strauss Lobbies Truman for H-Bomb
• Strauss to Truman, Nov. 25, 1949
– “…I believe it unwise to renounce unilaterally any
weapon which the enemy can reasonably be
expected to possess.”
– Why? Russians are probably working on it (true);
there is at least a 50-50 chance of success
(probably true); Russians are atheists and have no
moral qualms (??!); H-bomb can be used as a
tactical weapon against deployed armies (false!).
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Other Voices
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David Lilienthal (AEC)
Louis Johnson (Sec. Defense)
Dean Acheson (Sec. State)
Scientists and military leaders…
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• David Lilienthal, diary entry, March 1958
– “E.O Lawrence, Luiz Alvarez, Edward Teller –
Madison Avenue-type scientists. Scientists in gray
flannel suits.”
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Truman’s Decision to Build the ‘Super’
• January 31, 1950
• Context?
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Soviet A-bomb
Alger Hiss
Klaus Fuchs
Korean War
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Truman Speaks
• January 31, 1950:
• “I have directed the Atomic Energy Commission to
continue work on all forms of atomic weapons,
including the so-called hydrogen or super bomb.”
• Surprisingly little concerted public
outcry…most supported the idea (while still
paradoxically hoping for some form of
international arms control.
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Is there a pattern here?
• Fear and crisis…reaction?
• Continued focus on secrecy, exclusion, and
monopoly, only now with regard to a new
weapon.
• Continued belief that the U.S. would retain the
edge.
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Errors of Judgment?
• What security and advantages did nuclear
weapons bring?
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A New Weapons Laboratory
• Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory
founded in 1952 about
45 miles from
Berkeley.
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Scientists and the H-bomb Debate
• The H-bomb controversy was incredibly divisive for
the American science community along the
Teller/Lawrence – Oppenheimer/Conant axis.
• Differences between the H-bomb/A-bomb decision?
Similarities?
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• The H-bomb fight became an important part of
the 1954 decision to revoke Oppenheimer’s
security clearance.
• The debate continues to raise important
historical questions…
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H-Bomb Efforts in Russia
• Andrei Sakharov, 19211989.
• Soviet physicist, bomb
designer, and (later)
human rights activist.
• Son of a physicist; spent
WW2 working in a
munitions factory; turned
down nuclear bomb work
two times: “The third time
nobody asked me.”
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Sakharov’s Sloika
• Sakharov “recruited” in spring 1950; a few
months later he proposed a bomb design called
the sloika – Russian for “layer cake.”
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Meanwhile, in the U.S. –
Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam’s
Breakthrough
• Stanislaw Ulam, Polishborn mathematician;
worked on Manhattan
Project; returned to Los
Alamos.
• March 1951 – Teller and
Ulam develop idea of
radiation-implosion.
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• Their plan? Use the radiation from the fission
primary to compress and ignite the fusion
secondary.
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The GEORGE Test
• May 1951
• Small capsule of hydrogen
fuel placed next to an
‘ordinary’ atomic bomb.
• 25 kilotons
• Shows that Teller-Ulam
idea should work…
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The MIKE Test
• November 1, 1952 – Large-scale physics
experiment to test whether a hydrogen device
(as opposed to an actual bomb) would work.
• Device (‘the sausage’) itself was 7’ x 20’ and
weighed some 82 tons…hardly a weapon (yet).
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10 megatons with a fireball 3 miles in diameter. Cloud rose
over 50 miles high.
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E. Teller: “It’s a boy.”
2 miles wide; ½ mile deep
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First Test of Soviet H-Bomb Device
• Less than a year after MIKE test…August 12,
1953…Sakharov’s Sloika” is tested
• Smaller in yield than MIKE but also small
enough to be carried by a bomber (unlike
MIKE).
• First full-fledged USSR thermonuclear test in
1955 – arms race now appears even.
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Largest Nuclear Test to Date
• Soviet 58 megaton
explosion; October 30,
1961.
• Explosion visible over
400 miles away.
• Could cause 3rd degree
burns up to 50 miles
away.
• 100 Mt device designed;
not tested.
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BRAVO and the Lucky Dragon
• The Bravo test – March
1, 1954 – 15 megatons
(1000 times more
powerful than
Hiroshima bomb).
• Largest US test ever
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• Massive amounts of fallout created.
• Besides affecting islanders, the Japanese
fishing vessel Daigo Fukuryu Maru (Lucky
Dragon) was also heavily contaminated, with
the 23 crewmen exposed (one later died).
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Fallout from Bravo Test
• Eisenhower very concerned that the world
would think America was “skunks, saberrattlers, and warmongers”
• Public fears over testing
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Epilogue: Are Technological Solutions
the Answer?
• Hydrogen bomb
• Missile defense program
• Other areas of life…energy policy for
example. Build hydrogen-cell cars or conserve
gas? Health…eat less or liposuction?
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According to one observer…
• “The body of a bird was seen, but no living
animals and only the stumps of vegetation.
Among the specimens collected were fish
which seemed to have been burned. On each of
these fish, the skin was missing from one side,
as if…the animal had been dropped into a hot
pan.”
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• The first page of a memo by
Zeldovich and Sakharov of 14
January 1954, describing the idea of
AO - “Atomnoe Obzhatie” (atomic
compression).
• Translation:
“Top Secret. Special dossier. To
Comrade Khariton. About using the
gadget for implosion of the
supergadget RDS-6s. This report
presents a preliminary schematic of
a device for the AO of the
supergadget and calculations
evaluating its performance.”
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