"Adam H. Kerman" <a...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Sean Eric Fagan <s...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >Ron <bigelil...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> >>>>BTW, that bomb sure can take a lot of abuse w/o blowing up...lol
>
> >>>Most nuclear bombs can.
>
> >>I wouldn't know, I've never used one.
>
> >A nuclear bomb works by throwing a specific amount of fissionable
materia=
l
> >together quickly enough that a chain reaction results in a massive and
su=
dden
> >release of energy.
> >Without some specific steps, all you've got is a very dirty
environment.
> >(*That* is a reason to not be shooting at a car carrying a nuke, but
the
> >trade-offs are pretty clear: =A0stop it now, and have some relatively
min=
or
> >contamination, or let the "terrorist" continue and detonate the nuke.)
>
> I don't know the nature of this device. Was it designed to be planted or
> was it a warhead? If it were a warhead or a bomb designed to be dropped
> from a bomber, surely it's designed not to leak radiation unless
> specifically activated.
Most warheads are well armored as far as I know. They need to be to
hold in the explosion until they go critical and they need to be
extremely tough to prevent any possibility of radioactive leaks as
they
age.
Shoot at a nuke and it doesn't explode. You might break it's arming
mechanism so it never explodes. One *very* poorly designed might
have explosives that could go off but the story line has these ones
made carefully. You'd have to break open the bomb to get it to leak.
If you shoot at a bomb your worst case is breaching the casing and
getting a uranium leak. The most likely cases are you break its
arming mechansim and its materials have to be recycled (Cheyenne
would have the ability) or it gets scratched and still works.
