TheDevilChicken t1_j9g9dq8 wrote on February 21, 2023 at 6:29 PM

Reply to comment by knotacylon in Putin Halts Nuke Pact With US, Vows to Push War in Ukraine by MyCouchPullsOat

The material in the nukes has a half-life, if that degrades too much then you can't have a proper nuclear explosion.

So nukes have literal timers and best-by dates if left as is.

So at best, if Russia did no maintenance, they have dirty bombs instead of proper nukes.

Can someone say if they can actually inspect that part of the nukes?

ATLien325 t1_j9gaalw wrote on February 21, 2023 at 6:35 PM

If I’m not mistaking a dirty bomb is a conventional explosive with nuclear material attached. I don’t think there’s any convential explosives in nuclear bombs though.

edit - Nevermind I see what you’re saying

batmansthebomb t1_j9i7yoc wrote on February 22, 2023 at 3:44 AM

There's definitely conventional explosives in a nuclear weapon, that's how they get the core to super criticality to begin the nuclear reaction.

ATLien325 t1_j9jhf7j wrote on February 22, 2023 at 12:29 PM

Oh, didn’t realize. Always assumed it was electrical or something.

knotacylon t1_j9gfgir wrote on February 21, 2023 at 7:33 PM

If I recall correctly you have to remove the core, and you essentially have to refine it again, removing all the decay products, and then you have to reshape it because the geometry of the core is super critical, and then you put it back in.