Nagasaki, Nukes and a Spoonful of Plutonium

By Bob Nichols on June 11, 2017

Did you ever think how much Rad U235 or Rad Plutonium 239 is vaporized in a detonation of a nuclear weapon?

A Nagasaki sized nuke has about 14 lbs of nuclear material in it. Now, 14 lbs is more than just a little bit and less than a lot.

The Nagasaki nuke killed and maimed a couple of hundred thousand people in a split-second with those 14 lbs.

Nuclear weapons are hopelessly inefficient. It did require 14 lbs for the nuke detonation; however, it did not even take an ounce. Amazingly, it only took about 1/6 of an ounce to do the trick.

Got that? It takes 14 Pounds to start the detonation but only uses up about 1/6 of a Teaspoonful.

The amount to power the nuke weapon is little changed to this…