What is required to make a nuclear weapon?

Question

With the situation involving Iran, I was wondering what exactly is needed to make a nuclear weapon? Could terrorists make nuclear weapons if they found out how to, because if all it takes is materials and money, they already have money and the materials would be easy to get from Iran.

Thanks guys. FYI, I am not Osama bin Laden... I am just a high school kid -_- Of course, you can't tell if thats true or not, but i swear it is... but I didn't need specifics or a how to guide, I just wanted to know if terrorists could make them. I just got into a discussion with a friend of mine and he/she swore that terrorists had the capability of making the bomb right now -___- Well, it makes me feel a little easier about that subject. Thanks!

Are there any public sources which illustrates how only a country has the capability of making a bomb? It'll be helpful to present that to my friend in our "discussion"/argument.

Answer 1

"Terrorists" cannot make them themselves, currently.

And by "Terrorists" I mean a group of people who have limited manpower and limited money, resources. (As compared to a nation)

For that group, resources are better spent elsewhere. Such as in guns, training your fighting force, etc.

However, lets assume a private group. Lets say, 50,000 strong (trained military), 200,000 in direct support, 1 million in indirect and finiancial support. Lets assume this group has financial resources of 500 billion dollars . And they want to make one. Furthering this thought experiment, let us also assume this group must do so covertly or illegally.

This pretend group could certainly obtain U or Pu if they wanted to spend their resources there but, refined? No. This is "dirty bomb" category. Uranium isn't "rare" or anything, it's more abundant than tin or silver for instance. But is low in concetration...

There is the "gun" type and the "implosion type" nukes. Which defines the material they have obtained, such as uranium (U) or plutonium (Pu). Pu cannot be used in "gun-type" nukes. Gun type nukes also easier to build, and Pu easier to obtain. "implosion" nukes also require a lot more material. But, this cost totally dwarfs the refining process for either.

Most important here is the 'refining' process. Uranium for nukes, you want Uranium-235. However, you're talking 0.8% here of Uranium. The huge cost comes in seperating this very small percentage from Uranium-238.

That group, and all their money, cannot do that covertly -- or even overtly without additional support. They will have large facilities that the nation they are in know about and support. All the funds dissapear.

The cost certainly isn't "how to do it", everyone knows "how".

It's about where you spend your resources. Better to spend on firearms / traditional explosives. And on training.

A nation must provide this "pretend group" with resources that vastly outweigh the financial contribution they could provide. Ignoring the fact that if that group used it, another nation might hold them accountable.

You MUST HAVE the resources of a nation, the most complex part being after you have raw Uranium or Plutonium, "refining" or "weaponising" it (extracting the isotopes).

A nation would be retard for outright SELLING that, when they could garner more international power / resources for DISMANTLING/disposing of it or THREATING to sell it, man, that would get so much more.. Not even to mention, if a nation DID sell it, and it was used, its origin could be discovered.

EDIT:
Based on your recent edit asking for public sources, providing some links in my source.

The #1 hindrance is having the isotopes. On their own, they CANNOT do.

They could potentially mine on their own. Certainly obtain that mined product from another.... but encounter problems on extracting the isotopes.

After that, of course, they actually have to make a nuke. Maybe work, maybe not - but that's what TESTS are about - to make sure it all works.

"Terrorists" having nukes is a "joke". Meaning, it's all about politics and media.

Even another nation having them not a big deal. Do they have airforce, navy, artillery, etc? If not, that nuke -- and even 1,000 others don't really matter.

Answer 2

Enrich a mass of weapons grade radioactive material such as uranium or plutonium...a complicated process. This involves engineering thousands of centrifuges which spin a gas made from uranium ore, a difficult operation. Then it has to learn how to trigger a nuclear explosion (bombarding nuclei with neutrons creating a chain reaction) and engineer a device small enough to be carried by an aircraft or missile.

But of course, if you want a bigger bomb, try a hydrogen bomb. The central core of the bomb is a mass made up of trillions of two kinds of atoms, which are both isotopes of hydrogen, called deuterium and tritium. Small atomic bombs scattered around the outside cause the deuterium and tritium to be squeezed into a very dense mass, which initiates a process called nuclear fusion, releasing greater quantities of energy than your run-of-the mill a-bombs.

Answer 3

I know the nitty gritty stuff about it, but why the hell would I tell you? So you can pass it on to bin-Laden?

You'll need more than a cardboard box and chunk of uranium. There's a detonator, which is easily the easiest part about it. Uranium and every other radioactive substance (except for one) are illegal to possess without government authority, and unless you have the proper protective gear, you'll become too ill from poisoning to finish the job.

Terrorists do not have the ability to construct it themselves without us finding out about it, but they could very easily buy it from a country that hates the US, such as Iran. That is why so many people are worried about ammadenijad or whatever the **** his name is. He's not really even their real leader- it's a bunch of radical theocrats pulling the strings.

Someone like bin-Laden could not build his own explosive, but they'd almost certainly come up with the funds to purchase one discreetly from a sympathetic country, such as Iran.

Answer 4

If it were easy, just about every country on earth would have nuclear weapons.

The good news is that it sin't easy to make them.

You need nuclear grade fissionable material. That is hard to manufacture adn hard to come by.

You have to obtain nuclear grade triggers that do the primary detonation to cause the chain reaction. Those are extremely hard to build.

To make a "good" nuclear bomb is a very difficult task and something we don't have to worry so much about. To make a dirty nuclear bomb is simpler but less effective.

I'm sure the government is watching the situation closely and will take measures to ensure Iran doesn't complete the steps necessary to make a bomb.


g-day!

Answer 5

Chemical reactions like burning carbon (to make CO2) relies upon upon the very undeniable reality that once blended, the electrons of the blend own extra skill that would accept up as warmth (exothermic reaction). The nuclei of the carbon and oxygen atoms interior the CO2 molecule are unchanged. In nuclear reactions (the position nucleus stems from the note for 'nut' or middle of the atom) the nut should be chop up (fission) or higher (fusion) to get carry of extra skill. the further skill stems from the very undeniable reality that the total weight of the ensuing new atom (fusion) or atoms (fission) is a lot less that the unique weight. The misplaced weight (or mass) said as a mass disorder is amazingly small yet is switched over to skill in line with E = mc2 (it quite is a wide multiplier making use of the sq. of the speed of light!). it truly is achieveable to judge nuclear reactions as coping with protons and neutrons (that stay unchanged) and the 'glue' that holds them at the same time which could nicely be switched over to skill. imagine of a bag of marbles coated with sticky glue the position you're able to 'burn' purely the glue yet provided that the marbles are mild (hydrogen or lithium) or very heavy and risky (uranium or plutonium). not one of the protons and neutron could nicely be burned (and iron can't be thoroughly used up in a reaction). demanding the 'nut' of an atom oftentimes produces an risky isotope that needs to furnish off a particle consisting of a neutron, electron or proton to change into good. because the ejected debris are lively and 'radiate' outward the atoms are said as radioactive.

Answer 6

It takes a major engineering effort to build a nuke. Everything has to be done right the first time, and there is a very high chance of death from radiation long before finishing the thing.
For more information you are gonna have to get a job at a high security facility that designs them, and the security clearance to have access.
cheers

Answer 7

they need to have the right minerals like the right kind of uranium, plutoniam and be able to create the proper kind of bomb. Right now they are just trying to enrich enouigh uranium to make a bomb.

Answer 8

Well you have to have the technical know how and the material isn't that easy to come by that's why they are making those centrifuges to make their own fissionable matter.

Answer 9

Nukes 101. Better you go to the link then me type it all night.

Answer 10

Osama? Osama is that you?

J/k

If I knew, and answered this...I wouldn't survive 24 hours.