My guess is the same: that to add structural integrity during the first phase of implosion, so as to guide the implosion process better (rather than having a piece of the pit fly out, say), you'd want to weld the pieces with little plutonium columns between them. I doubt that's how modern bombs work.

Sure, but I think the people that published this were doing the exact opposite of geeking out and had the most deadly serious of intentions with the work.