Atomic mines against the "yellow dragon. Nuclear mines - Atomic ram of the XX century Backpack with thorium and california
35 years ago, on August 6, 1976, an unprecedented explosion thundered in the Kazakh part of the Tien Shan. He lifted two mountain peaks and brought them down into a deep gorge. Multi-ton rocks flew up. An ominous mushroom has risen above the mountain range.
What was happening from a special shelter was observed by the head of the engineering troops of the Soviet Armed Forces, Colonel General Sergei Aganov, the commanders of the military districts, the border armies of the Far Eastern, Transbaikal and Siberian regions.
Information about this explosion was closed to the press for a long time. The correspondent of "SP" talked with a participant in those events, the former head of the department of the defense research institute, engaged in the development of nuclear mines, a retired captain of the first rank Viktor Meshcheryakov.
"SP": - Did the USSR Ministry of Defense manage to hide the fact of testing a nuclear mine?
The fact is that it was not a test, but a demonstrative detonation of a simulated nuclear bomb. For several weeks, dozens of vehicles were brought to the foothills of two mountains located in a deserted place, explosives, fuel oil, all kinds of smoke bombs. Our military scientists have calculated how much of all this is needed so that the explosion, in terms of external parameters, corresponds to the detonation of a real atomic mine. That's almost the real effect.
"SP": - Why was it necessary?
At that time, the border armies of the Far Eastern, Trans-Baikal and Siberian districts began to receive nuclear land mines. The commanders of the districts and armies needed to be shown how this new weapon works. Since real explosions of nuclear weapons were prohibited, we limited ourselves to a simulated display.
"SP": - Against whom it was planned to use such mines?
After the Chinese tried to break through our border in the area of Damansky Island in March 1969, the command of the USSR Armed Forces took a number of measures to strengthen the eastern borders. Military scientists were tasked with finding a way to counter an attack by vastly outnumbered enemy forces. One of these decisions was the creation of a high-explosive nuclear belt along the border. Or rather, parallel to the border, a few tens of kilometers from it. At the same time, factors such as the deserted area of the mine installation, the predominant wind directions towards China, etc. were taken into account. If the radiation contamination of one's own territory is minimized, then one can speak of a very high effectiveness of such weapons against large masses of invaders.
"SP": - And how did it happen that you - a sailor - were in the center of work to strengthen the eastern border of the country?
When the events took place on Damansky, I served in the mine-torpedo warhead of a nuclear submarine. We had a reactor accident at the Farrero-Icelandic border. I had to return to the base on one reactor and get under repair. The crew was temporarily out of work. And then I fell under the arm of the higher command. An order came from the Ministry of Defense to send a naval miner, who knows nuclear processes well, to a special group for the development of an atomic mine. I was seconded to the Military Engineering Academy, where the special group was retrained. Initially, it was assumed that we would develop atomic mines for the Navy. But the naval command subsequently refused, citing the fact that nuclear torpedoes, which were already in service with ships, were more effective at sea. Nevertheless, I was not released from the group. And then the corresponding research institute was created. So I remained assigned to the engineering troops, although I received military ranks in the navy. So it turned out that being a naval officer all his life he developed nuclear mines for land border armies.
"SP": - Are your products still in service?
No, all sorts of perestroika and reforms swept it out of the military units.
"SP": - And where did it go, is it really destroyed?
I hope no. Lying somewhere in warehouses, waiting in the wings.
"SP": - Could you tell us what a nuclear mine is?
For obvious reasons, I will not talk about ours. I will refer to the Western model.
"SP": - Was nuclear land mines also developed there?
Still would! The NATO command proposed the creation of a nuclear mine belt along the borders of Germany and on its very territory. The charges were to be installed at points strategically important for advancing troops - on major highways, under bridges (in special concrete wells), etc. It was assumed that when all the charges were detonated, a zone of radioactive contamination would be created, which would delay the advance of Soviet troops by two - three days. In particular, Britain planned to install 10 huge nuclear mines hidden from its population in the zone of its occupying forces in Germany. They were supposed to cause significant destruction and lead to radioactive contamination of a wide area in order to prevent the Soviet occupation. It was assumed that the explosion force of each mine would reach 10 tons, which is about half as weak as the explosion of the atomic bomb dropped by the Americans on Nagasaki in 1945.
An English nuclear mine weighed about 7 tons. It was a gigantic cylinder, inside of which there was a plutonium core surrounded by a detonating chemical explosive, as well as a rather complicated electronic filling for those times. The mines were supposed to explode eight days after the built-in timer was turned on. Or instantly - on a signal from a distance of up to five kilometers. The mines were equipped with demining devices. Any attempt to open or move an activated mine led to an immediate explosion. Soviet intelligence revealed the intentions of the British. A scandal erupted. The Germans did not want to burn in a nuclear boiler. And this plan was thwarted.
The plan to nuclear mine Europe was recently unveiled by historian David Hawkins after his retirement from the Atomic Weapons Authority (AWE). His work, based on government documents, is published in the latest issue of Discovery, AWE's science and technology magazine.
A project to develop a mine, codenamed "Blue Pheasant", was started in Kent in 1954. As part of a secret program to create "atomic weapons", the weapon was designed, its components were tested and two prototypes were created.
The Blue Pheasant was to consist of a plutonium rod surrounded by explosives and placed in a steel sphere. The design was based on the Blue Danube atomic bomb, which weighed several tons, and was already in service with the British Air Force. But the "Blue Pheasant" weighing 7 tons was much more bulky.
The steel case was so large that it had to be tested outdoors. To avoid unnecessary questions from the military, according to Hawkins, a legend was prepared that this was a “container for a nuclear power unit.” In July 1957, the military leadership decided to order 10 mines and install them in Germany.
Hawkins calls plans to deploy weapons in the event of a threat of a Soviet invasion "somewhat theatrical." One of the problems was that the mines could not work in winter due to strong cooling, so the military was asked to wrap them in fiberglass blankets.
In the end, the risk of radioactive contamination was deemed "unacceptable," writes Hawkins, and the installation of a nuclear weapon in an allied country was "politically wrong." Therefore, the Ministry of Defense stopped work on the project.
According to Damn Interesting
For the device of nuclear minefields. It consists of a nuclear charge, initiation system, safety device, actuation system, power sources.
see also
- Medium Atomic Demolition Munition
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An excerpt characterizing a nuclear mine
“No,” said Princess Mary.- Now, to please the Moscow girls - il faut etre melancolique. Et il est tres melancolique aupres de m lle Karagin, [one must be melancholy. And he is very melancholy with m elle Karagin,] - said Pierre.
– Vrayment? [Right?] - said Princess Mary, looking into Pierre's kind face and not ceasing to think about her grief. “It would be easier for me,” she thought, if I decided to believe to someone everything that I feel. And I would like to tell Pierre everything. He is so kind and noble. It would be easier for me. He would give me advice!”
- Would you marry him? Pierre asked.
“Ah, my God, Count, there are such moments when I would go for anyone,” Princess Mary suddenly said, unexpectedly for herself, with tears in her voice. “Ah, how hard it is to love a loved one and feel that ... nothing (she continued in a trembling voice) you can do for him except grief, when you know that you cannot change this. Then one thing - to leave, but where should I go? ...
- What are you, what is the matter with you, princess?
But the princess, without finishing, began to cry.
“I don't know what's wrong with me today. Don't listen to me, forget what I told you.
All Pierre's gaiety vanished. He anxiously questioned the princess, asked her to express everything, to confide her grief to him; but she only repeated that she asked him to forget what she had said, that she did not remember what she had said, and that she had no grief, except for what he knew - grief that the marriage of Prince Andrei threatened to quarrel her father with son.
Have you heard about the Rostovs? she asked to change the conversation. “I was told that they would be coming soon. I also wait for Andre every day. I would like them to meet here.
How does he look at the matter now? asked Pierre, by which he meant the old prince. Princess Mary shook her head.
This operation of the special forces of the GRU of the General Staff of the USSR still remains a deep secret. We will talk about it only in the most general terms, so as not to harm the one who participated in this raid. More recently, it could have been put in the Cold War Archive folder, but after September 11, this topic acquired a second wind. Nuclear sabotage is today's US nightmare...
OUR RESPONSE TO REAGAN
When in the spring of 1986, US carrier-based aircraft attacked our allied Libya, Gorbachev and his senior diplomat Shevardnadze decided to carry out the most risky operation in the history of the special forces of the entire planet. They tried to find a very impressive response to the furious onslaught of US President Ronald Reagan, who in 1981 vowed to send the Soviet Union to the dustbin of history. By that time, the economic situation of our country had also worsened: the skillful diplomacy of America led to the fact that Saudi Arabia sharply increased the volume of oil production, collapsing world prices and thereby sharply reducing Moscow's foreign exchange earnings.
And the Soviet leadership conceived this: to install small nuclear land mines near the mines of American ballistic missiles. So that at the moment of the beginning of the war against the USSR, the take-off "Minuteman-2" and "Minuteman-3" were overturned to the ground by a shock wave from nearby low-yield nuclear explosions. Both missiles are launched using the "mortar launch" method, with the help of an expelling charge. They fly out of the shafts like a cork from a bottle of champagne, hovering in the air for some time at a time when the first stage engines have not yet had time to turn on. At this moment, ballistic missiles are especially vulnerable. The overpressure of a shock wave of 0.3 atmospheres per square meter is enough to topple the Minuteman on its side, after which it simply crashes into the ground.
Experts calculated that for this it would be enough to install a portable nuclear charge about ten kilometers from the positions of American missiles - a knapsack, which was in service with special forces units of the Main Intelligence Directorate. Each of these charges was equipped with seismic sensors that responded to ground shaking at the moment when special charges threw American rockets out of the ground. The entire sabotage device with all the sensors fit in three tourist backpacks - 25 kilos each. The power of the charge ranged from five to twenty kilotons. That is, from one-fourth to full Hiroshima. Or, to present everything more clearly, in three knapsacks, as it were, fit from five to twenty thousand tons of composition with TNT.
And the task was as follows: Russian sabotage groups, having landed in the United States, had to get to their destination, collect the devices, bury them securely and turn on the radio command line. And then - secretly leave. At any moment, on a signal from the satellite, these land mines were put on alert, and could explode at the time of the launch of American intercontinental missiles. The task was made easier by the fact that US ground launch complexes are mainly located in the north of the country, in the Rocky Mountains, in the states of Montana and North Dakota, where they are deployed in regiments of ten missiles each.
This plan from the very beginning was adventurous and doomed to failure. The destruction of even all ground-based US nuclear missiles did not solve anything, because in this case the Americans still had warheads on strategic bombers carrying cruise missiles and on submarines. And it is simply impossible to mine absolutely all launch mines in the USA. Therefore, the military of the USSR tried to protest - but the political leadership demanded that the order be carried out.
under the guise of tourists
The operation began in January 1987. To begin with, three trial groups went to the United States, which they made consolidated, recruiting people from different parts of the special forces.
They arrived at the naval base in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, where they boarded conventional diesel-electric submarines. We note especially: it is diesel-electric, and not nuclear with their special noiselessness. That is, the Russians in this case went the same way as the Germans in World War II, who threw people into America with submarines. Only here Doenitz's submariners crossed the Atlantic, and ours in 1987 went through the northern part of the Pacific Ocean.
The transition revealed the almost complete insecurity of the United States from the penetration of saboteurs into their territory from this very direction. The US Coast Guard is simply physically unable to cover the entire coastline of the country. Not far from the shore, boats surfaced, sending Soviet special forces to the shore in inflatable boats, almost invisible to radar.
One of the groups landed in the vicinity of Seattle, Washington. Having rounded Vancouver Island from the south, the boat for this entered the Juan da Fuca Bay, which cuts quite deeply into the territory of the United States in the very north of this country.
There were nine of them with one nuclear bomb. All are specialists in sabotage in the deep rear of NATO countries. And not all of them looked like Schwarzeneggers. Possessing perfectly crafted American-style documents, they worked according to the legend of emigrants from Eastern Europe. This is what removed the questions about the English language with an accent from some of the team members. Without any problems, the group rented a minibus and drove to their destination, pretending to be canoe tourists in Alaska jackets, American baseball caps and plaid flannel shirts. Our saboteurs traveled part of the way by car, and then moved on foot. In some places they went kayaking: fortunately, this area of \u200b\u200bthe USA is replete with rivers.
They went to the laying site, laid a land mine without interference, and then calmly went south, where they crossed the US-Mexican border, arrived on the Yucatan Peninsula, and from there, on a hired boat, moved to friendly Cuba. Fortunately, there were enough maritime experts among us: several people in that detachment were trained as underwater saboteurs, studying at the famous training center in Furstenberg, in East Germany.
In total, three nuclear mines were installed in the USA in 1987 in this way. The most interesting thing is that the Americans were told about this operation only in 1993, on the wave of democracy and friendship. As part of, so to speak, the struggle against the totalitarian past. Of course, without publicity, naming the exact places of laying "surprises". But when the Yankees rushed to seize the land mines, it turned out that one was missing. However, they did not make noise from this: by that time, the four-year expiration date of the charge had already expired. Too unstable in the GRU backpack bomb "filling", which is why they need to be re-equipped every few years. Therefore, the missing land mine will never explode.
A participant in that operation, telling us this story, believes that on the part of Moscow it was an extremely adventurous and completely senseless step from a military point of view. According to the most conservative estimates, in order to neutralize US ground-based missiles at that time, about a thousand groups of miners would have to be sent to America. Of course, some of them would inevitably get caught, and this threatened to cause a crisis worse than the Caribbean.
BIN LADEN DOES NOT HAVE SUBBOATS
Yes, it didn't make sense back then. But times have changed. Now the reckless opponents of the United States have absolutely no need to destroy the nuclear missile potential of the Americans. Is Al Qaeda, a network structure scattered across dozens of countries, afraid of US retaliatory nuclear strikes? Of course not. They are even beneficial to her, because they will attract new legions of Muslim avengers to her side. On the other hand, it is very convenient to inflict precisely such subversive strikes on America, which are fraught with the most terrible thing for this country - huge human casualties, environmental disasters and the mental breakdown of society.
Probably, today the United States is saved only by the fact that bin Laden does not have submarines capable of crossing the ocean and landing saboteurs on the American coast. The United States accuses Iraq of secret possession of nuclear weapons, but even that does not have a submarine fleet as such, and even more so - ocean-based boats. However, there is still a way through Mexico, and it can really be used. Therefore, the United States can only pray to heaven that the Arab world could not make compact charges that can be carried in satchels.
But in the same episode, one can also see a new chance for our people in the fight against possible aggression from the West. Today, dear reader, the Russians do not have the task of completely mining the entire fleet of US intercontinental missiles. In the event of an attack on us by the NATO bloc, the main task becomes completely different: the defeat of the consciousness and critical infrastructure nodes of the most important of our potential adversaries.
The experience of the 1987 operation suggests that if the new Russia is able to restore special forces units (already within the framework of the Special Operations Forces of the new empire), if, at the very least, it can supply the Navy with new silent boats, then another way will open up to fight the aggressor. Diversionary. Already directly in the deep territory of the enemy.
POSTSCRIPT: RUSSIA'S VULNERABLE NUCLEAR SHIELD
But another question is born of itself: can the enemy do something similar in order to leave our Russia without nuclear weapons?
Alas, the times of another Russian turmoil contribute to the success of such an operation. Our borders are like a sieve, the people are poor and sluggish. If a group of terrorists Baraev walked around in Moscow for two months, under the noses of all the special services and the Kremlin itself, preparing to seize the theater, then what can we say about those backwaters in which divisions of our Strategic Missile Forces are deployed? Imagine groups of foreign saboteurs who calmly roam the expanses of Russia in minibuses and vans, bribing the police, arranging caches with weapons where necessary. Receivers of the American satellite system GPS will not let them get lost.
Where can there be enemies who will deliver a sudden blow to our nuclear potential? Firstly, saboteurs from their own, Caucasian. In September 2001, at a meeting on atomic energy and nuclear safety in Kursk, which was held under the auspices of the leadership of the Central Federal District, representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office, as if in passing, noticed that almost three thousand natives of the from Chechnya. But the peculiarity of the ground "creeper", the Topol complex, is such that it can be disabled by shots from a large-caliber sniper rifle from a distance of one and a half kilometers.
And there may be enemies of another kind - from the NATO bloc. The Alliance's flagship, America, has both portable nuclear mines and an aerospace force with precision-guided weapons capable of staging June 22: air strikes against the bases of divisions and regiments of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces. And NATO also has hard currency, which can be used to hire saboteurs from local cadres who have no love for a united Russia. Fortunately, the Yankees have experience of such interaction - in Kosovo in 1999, when the local Islamic militants became the best friends of the United States and excellent gunners for their air force.
As long as, of course, this danger is purely hypothetical, as long as it is believed that the alliance between Washington and Moscow against the global hydra of terrorism is eternal and indestructible. But they spoke in exactly the same way in 1941-1945, when we were allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. And who knows how long the current idyll will drag on?
Therefore, you can look at how today our Strategic Missile Forces are protected from a sudden non-nuclear strike by forces of both saboteurs and modern air forces.
Here are the positions of strategic missiles covering Krasnoyarsk with a large horseshoe from the north. In Solnechny (or Uzhur-4) there are complexes of heavy multiply charged missiles of the 62nd missile division located in mines. In Kansk - the base of mobile "poplars" of the 23rd Guards Division of the Strategic Missile Forces. Finally, the division in Gladky is "nuclear trains." Today they are almost completely defenseless against the attacks of promising US aerospace expeditionary forces! However, in the face of Chinese bomber raids, too. There are no anti-aircraft missile units or fighter aircraft here.
And the wilderness of this region is just a paradise for groups of enemy special forces. Put yourself nuclear mines with seismic sensors - and wait for the decisive moment.
Here is the 59th division of the strategic missile troops in the vicinity of the city of Kartaly in the Chelyabinsk region and the 13th division of the Strategic Missile Forces in Yasnoy (in the Orenburg region). In fact, this is one group of heavy silo rockets with ten heads. For example, the 59th division is forty launch complexes in the steppe, which take about an hour to fly by helicopter from Magnitogorsk. Today, the division is not covered by anything from the air, as, indeed, is the entire Chelyabinsk region. The situation with the 13th division is no better - the closest Donguz anti-aircraft missile brigade with S-300V systems is clinging to Orenburg. If the Americans attack the positions of our heavy missiles from the south, from their bases in Central Asia and the Middle East, then nothing will stop them.
Let's take the 27th Rocket Army headquartered in Vladimir. The nearest division of mobile complexes is the 54th, in Teikovo. Who covers them from the first air strike? Central officer courses of anti-aircraft missile forces in Kosterevo-1. There, of course, there are S-300P complexes, but there are too few of them. The "wave" attacks of cruise missiles, familiar to us from Yugoslavia, would quickly deplete them. The closest air cover is the 54th MiG-31 regiment in the neighboring Nizhny Novgorod region - in Savasleyka. Damn, because they will suppress it in two counts!
Here is the 7th missile division in Vypolzovo, Tver region, equipped with Topol mobile complexes. As we have already mentioned, it is vulnerable to the actions of mobile sabotage groups that can hit tractors with missiles and sniper rifles, and with the help of light anti-tank guided missiles of the Malyutka, Fagot or Kornet types. The latter, by the way, are being used with might and main by the separatists in Chechnya. At the same time, satellite saboteurs are capable of directing air strikes at targets.
In the Kostroma region, at the Vasilek station, there is a division of strategic missiles on trains. Neither anti-aircraft missile units nor fighter regiments cover it.
Let's take the 14th and 8th divisions of the Strategic Missile Forces, which are deployed in Bashkiria and the Kirov region. There is no air cover again! Only much further east, in the Permian land, nests a lone MiG-31 regiment - the 764th regiment in Sokol.
And the state of domestic air defense today is such that vast areas inside Russia are not visible by radar. That is, saboteurs can land for the "anti-missile war" from aircraft.
In a word, today there is something to think about not only for the Americans, but for us too.
| Characteristic name | Characteristic value | Brand YAZU |
| MINA M-59 ADM-B | ||
| 1953–1987 | W-7YI | |
| Weight, kg | 770 | |
| Maximum diameter, mm | 760 | |
| Length, mm | 1400 | |
| Power, kt | 70 | |
| - | ||
| MINA T-4 | ||
| Year of adoption - year of decommissioning | 1957–1963 | W-8 |
| Weight, kg | - | |
| Maximum diameter, mm | - | |
| Length, mm | - | |
| Power, kt | 20 | |
| Nuclear safety device | - | |
| HEAVY MINE M-31 HADM | ||
| Year of adoption - year of decommissioning | 1960–1965 | W-31 Mod.1 |
| Weight, kg | 560 | |
| Maximum diameter, mm | - | |
| Length, mm | ||
| Power, kt | 20 | |
| Nuclear safety device | - | |
| TACTICAL MINE XM-U3TADM | ||
| Year of adoption - year of decommissioning | 1961–1966 | W-30 |
| Weight, kg | 381 | |
| Maximum diameter, mm | 660 | |
| Length, mm | 1778 | |
| Power, kt | 0,5 | |
| Nuclear safety device | - | |
| MEDIUM MINE M-167 MADM | ||
| Year of adoption - year of decommissioning | 1962–1984 | W-45 Y2 |
| Weight, kg | 159 | |
| Maximum diameter, mm | 356 | |
| Length, mm | - | |
| Power, kt | 10 | |
| Nuclear safety device | - | |
| MEDIUM MINE M-172 MADM | ||
| Year of adoption - year of decommissioning | 1962–1984 | W-45 Y3 |
| Weight, kg | 159 | |
| Maximum diameter, mm | 356 | |
| Length, mm | - | |
| Power, kt | 15 | |
| Nuclear safety device | - | |
| SPECIAL MINE M-159 Mod. 1 SADM | ||
| Year of adoption - year of decommissioning | 1964–1990 | W-54Y1 |
| Weight, kg | 68 | |
| Maximum diameter, mm | - | |
| Length, mm | - | |
| Power, kt | 0,01 | |
| Nuclear safety device | PAL | |
| SPECIAL MINE M-159 Mod. 2 SADMs | ||
| Year of adoption - year of decommissioning | 1965–1990 | W-54Y2 |
| Weight, kg | 68 | |
| Maximum diameter, mm | - | |
| Length, mm | - | |
| Power, kt | 0,25 | |
| Nuclear safety device | PAL | |
| MEDIUM MINE M-175MADM | ||
| Year of adoption - year of decommissioning | 1965–1984 | W-45 Y4 |
| Weight, kg | 59 | |
| Maximum diameter, mm | 356 | |
| Length, mm | - | |
| Power, kt | 1 | |
| Nuclear safety device | PAL | |
Neutron bomb. In the 1970s, the so-called "neutron bomb" was created in the United States.
Judging by reports in the foreign press, American tactical weapons with increased initial radiation output, or the so-called neutron weapons, are low-yield thermonuclear munitions. In addition to the atomic initiator equipped with fissile materials, the composition of the neutron ammunition charge includes a certain amount of heavy hydrogen isotopes: tritium (3H) and deuterium (2H). When an atomic initiator is blown up, high pressures and temperatures develop, and thus the conditions necessary for the occurrence of thermonuclear reactions of the fusion of tritium and deuterium nuclei are created. The following are typical reactions with the release of neutrons:
3 H + 2 H ® 4 He (helium nucleus) + neutron + 17.590 MeV
3 H + 3 H ® 4 He (helium nucleus) + 2 neutrons + 11.332 MeV
3 H + 3 H ® 5 He (helium nucleus) + neutron + 10.374 MeV
2 H + 2 H ® 3 He (helium nucleus) + neutron + 3.270 MeV
The main part of the energy released during the reaction is transferred to neutrons, as a result of which a significant part of these particles, escaping into the surrounding space after the explosion of a neutron ammunition, has enormous energies.
Being electrically neutral, neutrons, when passing through a substance, cause its ionization not directly, but indirectly, interacting with the light nuclei of atoms of other substances.
For example, when a fast neutron collides with the nucleus of a hydrogen atom (proton), it can transfer most of its energy to it. as a result, the nucleus, as it were, is knocked out of the atom - a "bundle" of a proton and an electron. Possessing high energy, it begins to move rapidly and creates a significant number of pairs of ions on its way. In addition, when fast neutrons collide with other light nuclei, such as carbon, oxygen and nitrogen, protons and radioactive nuclei are formed as a result of nuclear reactions.
Ionization due to the interaction of fast neutrons with hydrogen and nitrogen nuclei in the tissues of the body is the main cause of biological damage caused by the initial (penetrating) radiation during the explosion of a neutron ammunition. As a result, chromosome breakage, swelling of the nucleus and the whole cell, an increase in the viscosity of the protoplasm and an increase in the permeability of the cell membrane occur in the cells of living tissue. The newly formed products will act as cell poisons. Under the influence of these factors, cells are destroyed or become unable to divide, normal processes of tissue repair are disrupted.
Of particular danger is the effect of neutron radiation in large doses on the nervous system, in particular on the human brain, as a result of which a loss of orientation, an inability to perform the simplest meaningful actions, and, finally, convulsions and loss of consciousness quickly appear.
Foreign experts believe that the "proton" mechanism of hitting people with fast neutrons is aggravated by the fact that radioactive isotopes are formed in the tissues of the human body under the action of neutrons. Isotopes such as nitrogen-16, nitrogen-17, calcium-47, sodium-24 have short half-lives and are intense sources of gamma and beta radiation, which have an additional damaging effect even after the termination of direct neutron exposure.
Upon receipt of a dose of 8000 rad (will occur at a distance of up to 800 m from the epicenter during the explosion of a neutron munition with a power of 1 kt), the personnel will fail within 5 minutes and will be unable to perform combat missions. The death of those affected will occur one to two days after exposure.
Personnel who received a dose of 3000 rads will also fail within 5 minutes, and although after about half an hour there will be some improvement in the condition of the affected, they will all die after 4-6 days.
Upon receiving a dose of 650 rad (this will be at a distance of 1200 m from the epicenter), the personnel will lose their combat capability during the first 2 hours after the explosion. With proper treatment, a part of it will survive, but most will remain incapable of performing combat missions and will die in a few weeks.
Those who received doses of 550-300 rads will experience approximately the same symptoms. It is believed that at a dose of 450 rad, mortality can be about 50% of those affected.
Doses of 250–100 rads can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea in a person on the first day. In the next two weeks, no specific symptoms of radiation sickness are observed, but during the third and fourth weeks after exposure, appetite disappears, hair loss occurs, a sore throat is felt, bleeding and diarrhea begin, and a person loses weight. And although the dose received does not cause the immediate death of the affected, the weakened body loses its ability to resist, and a person can get sick with various infectious diseases with a fatal outcome.
Additional information about the nature of the disease with radiation sickness is given in Table 7.
| Radiation dose ranges, rem* | Characteristic symptoms | Major affected organs | Outcome of the disease | Duration of the disease with a favorable outcome | Duration of illness with an unfavorable outcome | Cause of death |
| 0-100 | Not | Not | Irradiated is practically healthy | - | ||
| 100-200 | Moderately pronounced decrease in the number of leukocytes. 50% of those affected experience nausea and vomiting. | Bone marrow | Without consequences | Few weeks | No more than 2 months | |
| 200-600 | A pronounced decrease in leukocytes, hemorrhage and bleeding. At doses greater than 300 rem, nausea and vomiting in 100% of those affected, hair loss and susceptibility to secondary infections | Bone marrow | With treatment (antibiotics, blood transfusion), recovery is possible, deaths 0-80% | 1 - 12 months | No more than 2 months | Bleeding, secondary infections |
| 600-1000 | Same | Bone marrow | Death in 80-100% of cases | long | No more than 2 weeks | Same |
| 1000–5000 | Vomiting, diarrhea, fever, electrolyte imbalance | Gastrointestinal tract | No more than 2 days | Drop in blood pressure | ||
| Over 5000 | Convulsions, tremors, spasms. Unconscious state | central nervous system | There is no hope for recovery. Death in 90-100% of cases | Respiratory failure, cerebral edema | ||
The foreign press emphasizes that neutron irradiation, even at low doses, poses a danger in relation to leukemia. This is evidenced by the statistical data accumulated during the treatment of people affected by the atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is confirmed by the abnormally high incidence of leukemia among a large group of American servicemen who observed in 1957 an air explosion of a 40 kt nuclear bomb (although the radiation doses they received were negligible).
Neutron exposure is especially dangerous for pregnant women. In Japanese women exposed to penetrating radiation during pregnancy, there was a marked increase in the number of stillbirths. The death rate of newborns and infants also increased, and the survivors in most cases had mental retardation.
Foreign experts also suggest the possibility of genetic changes in people who have been exposed to radiation. These effects do not appear immediately, however, there may be noticeable physiological deviations in future generations. Changes (mutation) of genes caused by the action of radiation most often lead to the emergence of negative signs in subsequent generations, including increased susceptibility to diseases, reduced life expectancy, the birth of offspring incapable of reproduction, etc.
The American press notes that neutron weapons will be an effective means of fighting tanks, since the flow of fast neutrons is slightly weakened by armor. For example, 70–80% of fast neutrons will pass through armor 100–120 mm thick. In addition, under the action of neutrons captured by the nuclei of the chemical elements that make up the armor, many of these elements become radioactive and begin to emit beta particles and gamma rays, further increasing the exposure of tank crews.
The Ministry of Defense is trying to hide the fact that in the event of an explosion of a neutron munition, the civilian population will be equally exposed to the damaging effect of neutrons. Ceilings over basements, which will often serve as a shelter for civilians, will not be able to sufficiently attenuate the neutron flux. Thus, a concrete layer 250 mm thick will reduce the neutron dose by no more than 10 times.
Foreign military experts consider economic considerations to be one of the main arguments in favor of neutron weapons. They tried to convince the population of Western European countries that in the event of a nuclear war, the use of neutron munitions, the main carriers of which could be Lance guided missiles and 203.2-mm howitzers, would reduce the damage done to their economies. Thus, American experts argued that due to the “neutronism” of the ammunition, the effect of the shock wave and light radiation is sharply reduced, and the zone of destruction of structures becomes negligible. The foreign press notes that the radius of such a zone during the explosion of a neutron munition with a capacity of 1 kt can be 130–270 m. However, these figures are clearly rigged.
It is known from Western sources that in a 203.2-mm neutron artillery shell with a TNT equivalent of 1 kt, nuclear fission reactions account for half of the total power released. This means that the explosion of such a projectile in terms of the action of an air shock wave and light radiation will be approximately equivalent to the explosion of a conventional nuclear weapon with a power of 0.5 kt. It follows from the physical laws of similarity that the destruction radii will decrease not by two, but by only 1.25 times. In particular, the radius of the zone of severe destruction of buildings with a reinforced concrete frame will be 320 m (a decrease of only 80 m). (Drawing 25)
To this it should be added that in the structural elements of buildings, as well as in the soil and roads, induced radiation will arise, which will make it difficult to use these structures.
SH. 25. Zones of destruction of personnel and incapacitation of military equipment from an explosion of a neutron munition with a power of 1 kt: 1 - all buildings are destroyed by the action of a shock wave and light radiation, vehicles are destroyed and personnel die; 2 - people are instantly put out of action, even those in tanks, and their death immediately occurs (destruction of objects is not noted); 3 - received high doses of radiation cause radiation sickness in personnel, including fatal; 4 - there is little exposure of people
According to Newsweek magazine, the TNT equivalent of the neutron charge of the head of the Lance missile, which was planned to be adopted by the American troops, is 1 kt. The zones of damage to personnel by penetrating radiation and the destruction of structures during the explosion of the neutron warhead of the Lance missile of the specified power of a conventional and "conventional" nuclear warhead (TNT equivalent of 50 kt) are given in comparison in the diagram. (D. 26)
The foreign press cites the words of one of the American experts - an opponent of the development of neutron weapons, who very aptly said: “They say that neutron weapons are humane, but they are humane only in relation to buildings. Neutrons can kill people quickly, in minutes, but many more people exposed to neutrons will suffer for months until they die.”
In August 1981, the production of neutron warheads W-70 mod. 3 for Lance tactical missiles. In total, up to February 1983, 380 nuclear warheads were manufactured.
In 1981, the 203-mm M-753 artillery active-rocket projectile with a neutron warhead W-79 mod. 0. From July 1981 to August 1986, 225 neutron warheads were manufactured.
In addition, a 155-mm artillery XM-785 with a neutron warhead W-81 mod. 0. However, according to Western data, in October 1983, work on it was stopped.
SH. Fig. 26. Comparison of zones of destruction of personnel and destruction of structures during the explosion of the neutron warhead of the Lance rocket (TNT equivalent of 1 kt) and the "conventional" nuclear warhead of the same rocket (TNT equivalent of 50 kt): a - zone of destruction caused by a shock wave and light radiation during the explosion of the neutron warhead of the rocket "Lance"; b - zone in which enemy personnel will die after exposure as a result of an explosion of a neutron warhead; c - zone of destruction caused by a shock wave and light radiation during the explosion of a "conventional" nuclear warhead, which is in service
Hafnium bomb. In 1994, the US Congress banned the development of atomic bombs with a yield of less than 5 kt (the Furth-Spratt law). Without a doubt, US lawmakers were influenced by the collapse of the USSR and the US military's fear that small tactical nuclear weapons would leak from the former Soviet Union to other countries and even to insurgent movements.
However, this ban was soon violated: in October 2000, the United States allocated funds for "studying the possibility of creating small atomic bombs" (up to 5 kt), and in November 2002 they invested another $ 15 million (this is what is officially known) in the project of the so-called Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator - an atomic weapon to destroy enemy underground bunkers.
This technology has already been included in the so-called US Militarily Critical Technologies List (MCTL, literally "List of Key Military Technologies" - a collection of information on developments that the US Department of Defense considers paramount in order to maintain military dominance on the planet).
Information about the so-called hafnium bomb appeared in the Western media. I will refer to the information found on this subject on the Internet.
The Pentagon has begun to develop a new nuclear weapon of enormous destructive power, which, acting like a neutron bomb, destroys all life. Hafnium bombs release lethal gamma radiation, but unlike an atomic bomb, there is no residual radioactivity. According to the English magazine "New Scientist", the Pentagon has made a new nuclear weapon in the list of the most important military developments.
Recently, a group of Texas physicists published the results of experiments on the military use of a hafnium isomer bomb. What is the essence of the idea? In the Texas experiment, an excited hafnium nucleus was irradiated with X-rays - and 60 times more energy was immediately released than was spent on initiating the explosion. Energy was released in the form of gamma radiation, which is deadly for living beings. In terms of destructive (blasting) ability, 1 gram of hafnium is equivalent to 50 kg of TNT. The cost of the substance is not higher than the cost of enriched uranium, but it is required less than uranium. Unlike a uranium bomb, the reaction does not require a critical mass of matter. It is not surprising that the Pentagon experts, quoted by the English magazine, were delighted: "Such an unusual energy density can revolutionize all military affairs." The US Air Force laboratory in New Mexico has already begun to test the possibility of creating ammunition based on this physical principle.
What is the attraction of the hafnium bomb? First of all, after the explosion, the soldiers do not need to be afraid of radioactive fallout. Small shells made of hafnium can be dropped from an aircraft and loaded even with ordinary artillery pieces. The new beam weapon fits into Bush's security doctrine, which calls for the use of atomic mini-bombs. In May 2003, the US Congress approved research to create a new generation of tactical nuclear weapons. In particular, the so-called "mini-nukes" (nuclear munitions with a yield of less than 5 kt in TNT equivalent).
Until now, the Furs-Spratt Act of 1994, which prohibits the development of nuclear weapons with a yield of less than 5 kt, has not been repealed. But since hafnium detonates without nuclear decay, it is not subject to this law, as well as international treaties that restrict the development and proliferation of nuclear weapons. However, the generally accepted definition of nuclear weapons, including in the United States, is based on the principle of releasing radiation or radioactivity that can destroy a significant number of people.
However, academician Nikolai Ponomarev-Stepnoy actively distrusts the sensational data: he claims that before the best experimenters in the world could not achieve that the discharged energy far exceeded the excitation energy, and in this case, this is most likely a statistically incorrect processing of the results. Texas physicists are optimistic that the energy output can be even greater.
“We worked a lot with hafnium isomers,” says Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Leonid Bolshov. - As a result of long efforts, it was possible to create a three-level scheme that allows, in principle, to get away from internal nuclear contradictions. In the experiment, we have achieved a metastable level and good conditions for the transition from one level to another. The laws of physics do not prohibit the creation of either a gamma laser or a hafnium bomb. This is not nonsense, but the probability of success is scanty. The story is reminiscent of the Star Wars, which the Pentagon also bought into, and from which nothing came of what all serious scientists predicted.
So, a hafnium bomb is, in principle, possible. Only one thing is not clear: how to do it. But the whole history of science testifies: if something can be done, sooner or later scientists will certainly do it. Especially if the military pays for the work. If the hafnium bomb does not fall under the international treaties on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, then its appearance will certainly return the world to a nuclear arms race.