Oppenheimer’s Gamble- the Plutonium Crisis
youtube.com
youtube.com
“ The Trinity High-Explosive Implosion System: The Foundation for Precision Explosive Applications”
It’s really hard to believe this much detail about atom bomb construction is now public.
Plutonium 238 is used in RTG for space missions, plutonium 238 having a low half life ~90 years
Plutonium 239 is used in bombs half life ~25,000 years.
I never got to the Physics of heat generated by radioactive decay, but I’m assuming several kilos of Plu 239 insulated by the explosive shell around it in a bomb is going to warm up a bit.
Just so long as the heat generated is less than that conducted away it would be OK; or is that part of the secret sauce.
Loved the bit about The Urchin, a neutron source at the core when Polonium and Beryllium get compressed, at lest that was in Veritasium’s YouTube video.