The Energy Department will announce today a contract to develop the nation’s first new hydrogen bomb in two decades, involving a collaboration between three national weapons laboratories, The Times has learned.
The new bomb will include design features from all three labs, though Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the Bay Area appears to have taken the lead position in the project. The Los Alamos and Sandia labs in New Mexico will also be part of the project.
Teams of scientists in California and New Mexico have been working since last year to develop the new bomb, using the world’s most powerful supercomputers.
The weapon is known as the reliable replacement warhead and is intended to replace aging warheads now deployed on missiles aboard Trident submarines.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Oh, goody!! We're working on a brand new hydrogen bomb!!
Because that's what we need in this world right now! Bigger bombs! Via Jane at Arms Control Wonk, the Los Angeles Times:
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6 comments:
What happened to the old H-bomb? Did I miss something? Come to think of it, I haven't seen Slim Pickens around lately...
Something that hasn't been addressed in the press much is the concern we should have over aging nuclear missiles warehoused about the country. They become increasingly unstable as they get older and because these are relatively new weapons in our arsenal, we really don't know what happens within the bomb itself.....
(Slim Pickens was wonderful in Dr. Strangelove.)
Y'know, they say America has lost the ability to send anyone to the Moon; the technologies we once used to do so have fallen into such disuse that they have to be redeveloped. Is it too much to hope that whatever nuclear warheads they build today simply won't work?
(Actually, I fear it is indeed too much to hope. When I was in college, I had a visiting prof from Los Alamos; he was one smart fellow...)
Ya...the NSA and the Pentagon are always looking for the cream of the crop in young college students... For the good of humanity, you know.
College Republicans. The new 'warheads'
Lol! Thanks, I needed that!
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