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Ivy Mike

Ivy Mike

Ivy Mike was the code name given to the first test of a successful fusion device, detonated on October 31, 1952 (US time — November 1 local time) by the United States, as part of Operation Ivy. The device was the first full test of the Teller-Ulam design for a "staged" fusion bomb. Due to its physical size and fusion fuel type (cryogenic liquid deuterium) the Mike device was not itself suitable for use as a thermonuclear weapon. A simplified and lightened bomb version (the EC-16) was prepared, and scheduled to be tested in Castle Yankee, as a backup in case the non-cryogenic "Shrimp" fusion device (tested in Castle Bravo) failed to work; that test was cancelled when the Bravo device was successful.

Device design and preparations

Castle Bravo The "Mike" device was essentially a very large cylindrical thermos flask for holding the cryogenic deuterium fusion fuel, with a regular fission bomb (the "primary") at one end; the latter was used to create the conditions needed to start the fusion reaction. The primary stage was a TX-5 boosted fission bomb in a separate space atop the assembly (so it would not freeze, rendering it inoperable). The "secondary" fusion stage used liquid deuterium despite the difficulty of handling this material, because this fuel simplified the experiment, and made the results easier to analyze. Running down the center of the flask which held it was a cylindrical rod of plutonium (the "sparkplug") to ignite the fusion reaction. Surrounding this assembly was a five-ton natural uranium "tamper". The interior of the tamper was lined with sheets of lead and polyethylene foam, which formed a radiation channel to conduct X-rays from the primary to secondary. (The function of X-rays was to hydrodynamically compress the secondary, increasing the density and temperature of the deuterium to the levels needed to sustain the thermonuclear reaction, and compressing the sparkplug to supercriticality ignition.) The outermost layer was a steel casing 10-12 inches thick. The entire "Sausage" (as it was nicknamed) assembly measured 80 inches in diameter and 244 inches in height and weighed about 60 tons. The entire Mike device (including cryogenic equipment) weighed 82 tons, and was housed in a large corrugated-aluminium building called a "shot cab" which was set up on the Pacific island of Elugelab, part of the Enewetak atoll. A 9,000-foot long artificial causeway connected the islands of Elugelab, Teiter, Bogairikk, and Bogon. Atop this causeway was an aluminium-sheathed plywood tube (named a "Krause-Ogle box") filled with helium ballonets. This allowed gamma and neutron radiation to pass uninhibited to an unmanned detection station housed in a bunker on Bogon. In total, 9,350 military and 2,300 civilian personnel were involved in the Mike shot. A large cryogenics plant was installed on Parry Island, at the South end of the Eniwetak atoll, to produce the liquid hydrogen (used for cooling the device) and deuterium needed for the test.

Detonation

radiation radiation The test was carried out 0715 hours local time on November 1, 1952; it produced a yield of 10.4 megatons, by a factor of almost 50 the largest explosion in history (although that record was to be eclipsed in 16 months). However, 77% of the final yield came from fast fission of the uranium tamper, which meant that the device produced large amounts of fallout. The fireball was over 3 miles wide, and the mushroom cloud rose to an altitude of 57,000 feet in less than 90 seconds. One minute later it had reached 108,000 feet, before stabilizing at 120,000 feet, with the top eventually spreading out to a diameter of 100 miles (the stem was 20 miles wide). The blast created a crater 6,240 feet in diameter and 164 feet deep where Elugelab had once stood, and the blast and water waves from the explosion stripped the test islands clean of vegetation. Irradiated coral debris fell upon ships stationed 30 miles from the blast, and the immediate area around the atoll was heavily contaminated for some time. The entire shot was filmed, and a private screening was given to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was later released to the public, and was for many days played continually on many television channels.

See also


- History of nuclear weapons
- Ivy King
- Operation Castle

External links


- [http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Ivy.html Operation Ivy]
- [http://www.archive.org/details/operation_ivy Operation Ivy Video]

References


- Chuck Hansen, U. S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History (Arlington: AeroFax, 1988)
- Richard Rhodes, Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995) Category:American nuclear explosive tests Category:Superbombs Category:1952

Nuclear fusion

(D-T) fusion reaction is considered the most promising for producing fusion power.]] In physics, nuclear fusion is the process by which two nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus. It is accompanied by the release or absorption of energy depending on the masses of the nuclei involved. Iron and nickel nuclei have the largest binding energies of all nuclei and therefore are the most stable. The fusion of two nuclei to produce a nucleus lighter than iron or nickel generally gives off energy while the fusion of nuclei heavier than them absorbs energy. Nuclear fusion of light elements releases the energy that causes stars to shine and hydrogen bombs to explode. Nuclear fusion of heavy elements occurs in the extreme conditions of supernova explosions. Nuclear fusion in stars and supernovae is the primary process by which new natural elements are created. This article deals with the fusion reaction itself. See the article on fusion power for information on controlling the fusion reaction to produce useful power. It takes considerable energy to force nuclei to fuse, even those of the least massive element, hydrogen. But the fusion of lighter nuclei, which creates a heavier nucleus and a free neutron, will generally release more energy than it took to force them together — an exothermic process that can produce self-sustaining reactions. The energy released in most nuclear reactions is much larger than that for chemical reactions, because the binding energy that holds a nucleus together is far greater than the energy that holds electrons to a nucleus. For example, the ionization energy gained by adding an electron to hydrogen is 13.6 electron volts -- less than one-millionth of the 17 MeV released in the D-T (deuterium-tritium) reaction shown to the right.

Requirements for fusion

A substantial energy barrier must be overcome for fusion to occur. Nuclei repel one another because of the electrostatic force between their positively charged protons. If two nuclei can be brought close enough together, however, the electrostatic force is overwhelmed by the more powerful strong nuclear force which only operates over short distances. When a nucleon (proton or neutron) is added to a nucleus, the strong force attracts it to other nucleons, but primarily to its immediate neighbors due to the short range of the force. The nucleons in the interior of a nucleus have more neighboring nucleons than those on the surface. Since smaller nuclei have a larger surface-to-volume ratio, the binding energy per nucleon due to the strong force generally increases with the size of the nucleus but approaches a limiting value corresponding to that of a fully surrounded nucleon. The electrostatic force, on the other hand, is an inverse-square force, so a proton added to a nucleus will feel an electrostatic repulsion from all the other protons in the nucleus. The electrostatic energy per nucleon due to the electrostatic force thus increases without limit as nuclei get larger. The net result of these opposing forces is that the binding energy per nucleon generally increases with increasing size, up to the elements iron and nickel, and then decreases for heavier nuclei. Eventually, the binding energy becomes negative and very heavy nuclei are not stable. The four most tightly bound nuclei, in decreasing order of binding energy, are 62Ni, 58Fe, 56Fe, and 60Ni [http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nucene/nucbin2.html#c1]. Even though the nickel isotope 62Ni is more stable, the iron isotope 56Fe is an order of magnitude more common. This is due to a greater disintegration rate for 62Ni in the interior of stars due to photon absorption. A notable exception to this general trend is the helium nucleus whose binding energy is higher than lithium's which is the next heavier. The Pauli exclusion principle provides an explanation for this exceptional behavior: it says that because protons and neutrons are fermions, they cannot exist in exactly the same state. Each proton or neutron energy state in a nucleus can accommodate both a spin up particle and a spin down particle. Helium has an anomolously large binding energy because its nucleus consists of two protons and two neutrons: so all four of its nucleons can be in the ground state. Any additional nucleons have to go into higher energy states. The situation is similar if two nuclei are brought together. As they approach each other, all the protons in one nucleus repel all the protons in the other. Not until the two nuclei actually come in contact can the strong nuclear force take over. Consequently, even when the final energy state is lower, there is a large energy barrier that must first be overcome. In chemistry, one would speak of the activation energy. In nuclear physics it is called the Coulomb barrier. The Coulomb barrier is smallest for isotopes of hydrogen - they contain only a single positive charge in the nucleus. A bi-proton is not stable, so neutrons must also be involved, ideally in such a way that a helium nucleus, with its extremely tight binding, is one of the products. Using D-T fuel, the resulting energy barrier is about 0.1 MeV. In comparison, the energy needed to remove an electron from hydrogen is 13.6 eV, about 7,500 times less energy. The (intermediate) result of the fusion is an unstable 5He nucleus, which immediately ejects a neutron with 14.1 MeV. The recoil energy of the remaining 4He nucleus is 3.5 MeV, so the total energy liberated is 17.6 MeV. This is many times more than what was needed to overcome the energy barrier. If the energy to initiate the reaction comes from accelerating one of the nuclei, the process is called beam-target fusion; if both nuclei are accelerated, it is beam-beam fusion. If the nuclei are part of a plasma near thermal equilibrium, one speaks of thermonuclear fusion. Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of particles, so by heating the nuclei they will gain energy and eventually have enough to overcome this 0.1 MeV barrier. Converting the units between eV and kelvins shows that the barrier would be overcome at a temperature in excess of 1 GK, obviously a very high temperature. There are two effects that lower the actual temperature needed. One is the fact that temperature is the average kinetic energy, implying that some nuclei at this temperature would actually have much higher energy than 0.1 MeV, while others would be much lower. It is the nuclei in the high-energy tail of the velocity distribution that account for most of the fusion reactions. The other effect is quantum tunneling. The nuclei do not actually have to have enough energy to overcome the Coulomb barrier completely. If they have nearly enough energy, they can tunnel through the remaining barrier. For this reason fuel at lower temperatures will still undergo fusion events, at a lower rate. quantum tunneling The reaction cross section σ is a measure of the probability of a fusion reaction as a function of the relative velocity of the two reactant nuclei. If the reactants have a distribution of velocities, e.g. a thermal distribution with thermonuclear fusion, then it is useful to perform an average of over the distributions of the product of cross section and velocity. The reaction rate (fusions per volume per time) is <σv> times the product of the reactant number densities: :f = n_1 n_2 \langle \sigma v \rangle If a species of nuclei is reacting with itself, such as the DD reaction, then the product n_1n_2 must be replaced by (1/2)n^2. \langle \sigma v \rangle increases from virtually zero at room temperatures up to meaningful magnitudes at temperatures of 10 - 100 keV. At these temperatures, well above typical ionization energies (13.6 eV in the hydrogen case), the fusion reactants exist in a plasma state. The significance of <σv> as a function of temperature in a device with a particular energy confinement time is found by considering the Lawson criterion.

Methods of fuel confinement

The fusion reaction can sustain itself if enough of the energy produced goes into keeping the fuel hot. Gravitational confinement One force capable of confining the fuel well enough to satisfy the Lawson criterion is gravity. The mass needed, however, is so great that gravitational confinement is only found in stars. Even if the more reactive fuel deuterium were used, a mass about the size of the Moon would be needed. Magnetic confinement Since plasmas are very good electrical conductors, magnetic fields can also confine fusion fuel. A variety of magnetic configurations can be used, the most basic distinction being between mirror confinement and toroidal confinement, especially tokamaks and stellarators. Inertial confinement A third confinement principle is to apply a rapid pulse of energy to fusion fuel, causing it to simultaneously "implode" and heat to very high pressure and temperature. If the fuel is dense enough and hot enough, the fusion reaction rate will be high enough to burn a significant fraction of the fuel before it has dissipated. To achieve these extreme conditions, the initially cold fuel must be explosively compressed. Inertial confinement is used in the hydrogen bomb, where the driver is x-rays created by a fission bomb. Inertial confinement is also attempted in "controlled" nuclear fusion, where the driver is a laser, ion, or electron beam. Some other confinement principles have been investigated, such as muon-catalyzed fusion, the Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor (inertial electrostatic confinement), and bubble fusion.

Important fusion reactions

bubble fusion

Astrophysical reaction chains

The most important fusion process in nature is that which powers the stars. The net result is the fusion of four protons into one alpha particle, with the release of two positrons, two neutrinos, and energy, but several individual reactions are involved, depending on the mass of the star. For stars the size of the sun or smaller, the proton-proton chain dominates. In heavier stars, the CNO cycle is more important. See stellar nucleosynthesis.

Criteria and candidates for terrestrial reactions

In man-made fusion, the primary fuel is not constrained to be protons and higher temperatures can be used, so reactions with larger cross-sections are chosen. This implies a lower Lawson criterion, and therefore less startup effort. Another concern is the production of neutrons, which activate the reactor structure radiologically, but also have the advantages of allowing volumetric extraction of the fusion energy and tritium breeding. Reactions that release no neutrons are referred to as aneutronic. In order to be useful as a source of energy, a fusion reaction must satisfy several criteria. It must:
- ... be exothermic. This one is obvious, but it limits the reactants to the low Z (number of protons) side of the curve of binding energy. It also makes helium He-4 the most common product because of its extraordinarily tight binding, although He3 and T also show up.
- ... involve low Z nuclei. This is because the electrostatic repulsion must be overcome before the nuclei are close enough to fuse.
- ... have two reactants. At anything less than stellar densities, three body collisions are too improbable.
- ... have two or more products. This allows simultaneous conservation of energy and momentum without relying on the (weak!) electromagnetic force.
- ... and conserve both protons and neutrons. The cross sections for the weak interaction are too small. Few reactions meet these criteria. The most interesting are the following: p (proton), D (deuterium), and T (tritium) are shorthand notation for the first three isotopes of hydrogen. For reactions with two products, the energy is divided between them in inverse proportion to their masses, as shown. In most reactions with three products, the distribution of energy varies. For reactions that can result in more than one set of products, the branching ratios are given. Some reaction candidates can be eliminated at once.[http://theses.mit.edu/Dienst/UI/2.0/Page/0018.mit.theses/1995-130/30?npages=306] The D-6Li reaction has no advantage compared to p-11B because it is roughly as difficult to burn but produces substantially more neutrons. There is also a p-7Li reaction, but the cross section is far too low except possible for Ti > 1 MeV, but at such high temperatures an endothermic, direct neutron-producing reaction also becomes very significant. Finally there is also a p-9Be reaction, which is not only difficult to burn, but 9Be can be easily induced to split into two alphas and a neutron. In addition to the fusion reactions, the following reactions with neutrons are important in order to "breed" tritium in "dry" fusion bombs and some proposed fusion reactors: :n + 6Li → T + 4He :n + 7Li → T + 4He + n To evaluate the usefulness of these reactions, in addition to the reactants, the products, and the energy released, one needs to know something about the cross section. Any given fusion device will have a maximum plasma pressure that it can sustain, and an economical device will always operate near this maximum. Given this pressure, the largest fusion output is obtained when the temperature is chosen so that <σv>/T² is a maximum. This is also the temperature at which the value of the triple product nTτ required for ignition is a minimum. This optimum temperature and the value of <σv>/T² at that temperature is given for a few of these reactions in the following table. Note that many of the reactions form chains. For instance, a reactor fueled with T and 3He will create some D, which is then possible to use in the D + 3He reaction if the energies are "right". An elegant idea is to combine the reactions (11) and (12). The 3He from reaction (11) can react with 6Li in reaction (12) before completely thermalizing. This produces an energetic proton which in turn undergoes reaction (11) before thermalizing. A detailed analysis shows that this idea will not really work well, but it is a good example of a case where the usual assumption of a Maxwellian plasma is not appropriate.

Neutronicity, confinement requirement, and power density

Any of the reactions above can in principle be the basis of fusion power production. In addition to the temperature and cross section discussed above, we must consider the total energy of the fusion products Efus, the energy of the charged fusion products Ech, and the atomic number Z of the non-hydrogenic reactant. Specification of the D-D reaction entails some difficulties, though. To begin with, one must average over the two branches (2) and (3). More difficult is to decide how to treat the T and 3He products. T burns so well in a deuterium plasma that you probably can't get it out even if you want to. The D-3He reaction is optimized at a much higher temperature, so the burnup at the optimum D-D temperature may be low, so it seems reasonable to assume the T but not the 3He gets burned up and adds its energy to the net reaction. Thus we will count the DD fusion energy as Efus = (4.03+17.6+3.27)/2 = 12.5 MeV and the energy in charged particles as Ech = (4.03+3.5+0.82)/2 = 4.2 MeV. Another unique aspect of the D-D reaction is that there is only one reactant, which must be taken into account when calculating the reaction rate. With this choice, we tabulate parameters for four of the most important reactions. The last column is the neutronicity of the reaction, the fraction of the fusion energy released as neutrons. This is an important indicator of the magnitude of the problems associated with neutrons like radiation damage, biological shielding, remote handling, and safety. For the first two reactions it is calculated as (Efus-Ech)/Efus. For the last two reactions, where this calculation would give zero, the values quoted are rough estimates based on side reactions that produce neutrons in a plasma in thermal equilibrium. Of course, the reactants should also be mixed in the optimal proportions. This is the case when each reactant ion plus its associated electrons accounts for half the pressure. Assuming that the total pressure is fixed, this means that density of the non-hydrogenic ion is smaller than that of the hydrogenic ion by a factor 2/(Z+1). Therefore the rate for these reactions is reduced by the same factor, on top of any differences in the values of <σv>/T². On the other hand, because the D-D reaction has only one reactant, the rate is twice as high as if the fuel were divided between two hydrogenic species. Thus there is a "penalty" of (2/(Z+1)) for non-hydrogenic fuels arising from the fact that they require more electrons, which take up pressure without participating in the fusion reaction. There is at the same time a "bonus" of a factor 2 for D-D due to the fact that each ion can react with any of the other ions, not just a fraction of them. We can now compare these reactions in the following table. The maximum value of <σv>/T² is taken from a previous table. The "penalty/bonus" factor is that related to a non-hydrogenic reactant or a single-species reaction. The values in the column "reactivity" are found by dividing (1.24e-24) by the product of the second and third columns. It indicates the factor by which the other reactions occur more slowly than the D-T reaction under comparable conditions. The column "Lawson criterion" weights these results with Ech and gives an indication of how much more difficult it is to achieve ignition with these reactions, relative to the difficulty for the D-T reaction. The last column is labeled "power density" and weights the practical reactivity with Efus. It indicates how much lower the fusion power density of the other reactions is compared to the D-T reaction and can be considered a measure of the economic potential.

Bremsstrahlung losses

The ions undergoing fusion will essentially never occur alone but will be mixed with electrons that neutralize the ions' electrical charge and form a plasma. The electrons will generally have a temperature comparable to or greater than that of the ions, so they will collide with the ions and emit Bremsstrahlung. The Sun and stars are opaque to Bremsstrahlung, but essentially any terrestrial fusion reactor will be optically thin at relevant wavelengths. Bremsstrahlung is also difficult to reflect and difficult to convert directly to electricity, so the ratio of fusion power produced to Bremsstrahlung radiation lost is an important figure of merit. This ratio is generally maximized at a much higher temperature than that which maximizes the power density (see the previous subsection). The following table shows the rough optimum temperature and the power ratio at that temperature for several reactions.[http://theses.mit.edu/Dienst/UI/2.0/Page/0018.mit.theses/1995-130/26?npages=306] The actual ratios of fusion to Bremsstrahlung power will likely be significantly lower for several reasons. For one, the calculation assumes that the energy of the fusion products is transmitted completely to the fuel ions, which then lose energy to the electrons by collisions, which in turn lose energy by Bremsstrahlung. However because the fusion products move much faster than the fuel ions, they will give up a significant fraction of their energy directly to the electrons. Secondly, the plasma is assumed to be composed purely of fuel ions. In practice, there will be a significant proportion of impurity ions, which will lower the ratio. In particular, the fusion products themselves must remain in the plasma until they have given up their energy, and will remain some time after that in any proposed confinement scheme. Finally, all channels of energy loss other than Bremsstrahlung have been neglected. The last two factors are related. On theoretical and experimental grounds, particle and energy confinement seem to be closely related. In a confinement scheme that does a good job of retaining energy, fusion products will build up. If the fusion products are efficiently ejected, then energy confinement will be poor, too. The temperatures maximizing the fusion power compared to the Bremsstrahlung are in every case higher than the temperature that maximizes the power density and minimizes the required value of the fusion triple product. This will not change the optimum operating point for D-T very much because the Bremsstrahlung fraction is low, but it will push the other fuels into regimes where the power density relative to D-T is even lower and the required confinement even more difficult to achieve. For D-D and D-3He, Bremsstrahlung losses will be a serious, possibly prohibitive problem. For 3He-3He, p-6Li and p-11B the Bremsstrahlung losses appear to make a fusion reactor using these fuels impossible. Some ways out of this dilemma are considered — and rejected — in [http://theses.mit.edu/Dienst/UI/2.0/Describe/0018.mit.theses/1995-130 Fundamental limitations on plasma fusion systems not in thermodynamic equilibrium].

See also


- Bubble fusion
- Cold fusion
- Fission
- Fusion power
- Helium fusion
- Muon-catalyzed fusion
- Nuclear weapon design
- Pyroelectric fusion
- Timeline of nuclear fusion

External links


- [http://www.iter.org/index.htm ITER] – Experimental fusion reactor under construction in France
- [http://www.fusion.org.uk/ Fusion.org.uk] – A guide to fusion from the UKAEA
- [http://www.sckcen.be/ SCKCEN.be] – Belgian Nuclear Research Centre Category:Energy conversion Category:Nuclear physics Category:Nuclear chemistry
- ja:原子核融合 zh-min-nan:Hu̍t-chú iông-ha̍p

October 31

October 31 is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 61 days remaining, as the final day of October.

Events


- 475 - Romulus Augustus was proclaimed Roman Emperor.
- 1517 - Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther posts his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church.
- 1587 - Leiden University Library opens its doors after its founding in 1575.
- 1822 - Emperor Agustín de Iturbide attempted to dissolve the Mexican Empire.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Citing failing health, Union General Winfield Scott resigns as Commander of the United States Army.
- 1863 - The Maori Wars resumed as British forces in New Zealand led by General Duncan Cameron began their Invasion of the Waikato.
- 1864 - Nevada is admitted as the 36th U.S. state.
- 1892 - Arthur Conan Doyle publishes The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- 1912 - The Musketeers of Pig Alley, directed by D.W. Griffith, debuts as the first gangster film.
- 1912 - Dominican Republic becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- 1917 - World War I: Battle of Beersheba - "last successful cavalry charge in history"
- 1922 - Benito Mussolini becomes the youngest Premier in the history of Italy.
- 1923 - 160 consecutive days of 100 degrees at Marble Bar, Australia begins.
- 1926 - Magician Harry Houdini dies of gangrene and peritonitis that developed after his appendix ruptured.
- 1936 - The Boy Scouts of the Philippines was formed.
- 1938 - Great Depression: In an effort to try restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveils a fifteen-point program aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public.
- 1940 - World War II: Battle of Britain ends - The United Kingdom prevents Germany from invading Great Britain.
- 1941 - After 14 years of work, drilling is completed on Mount Rushmore.
- 1941 - World War II: The destroyer USS Reuben James is torpedoed by a German U-boat near Iceland, killing more than 100 United States Navy sailors.
- 1941 - American photographer Ansel Adams takes a picture of a moonrise over the town of Hernandez, New Mexico that would become one of the most famous images in the history of photography.
- 1954 - Algerian War of Independence: The Algerian National Liberation Front begins a revolt against French rule.
- 1956 - Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.
- 1961 - In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin's body is removed from Lenin's Tomb.
- 1968 - Vietnam War October surprise:Citing progress with the Paris peace talks, US President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam" effective November 1.
- 1981 - Lily and James Potter from the Harry Potter novels were killed by Lord Voldemort.
- 1984 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two Sikh security guards (riots soon broke out in New Delhi and nearly 2,000 innocent Sikhs were killed).
- 1986 - The 5th congress of the Communist Party of Sweden is inaugurated. During the course of the congress the party name is changed to the Solidarity Party and the party ceases to be a communist party.
- 1994 - An American Eagle ATR-72 crashes in Roselawn, Indiana, after circling in icy weather, killing all 68 on board.
- 1996 - A Brazilian TAM Fokker-100 crashes into several houses in São Paulo, Brazil killing 98 including 2 on the ground.
- 1996 - Jean Chrétien becomes UN special envoy to the African Great Lakes.
- 1997 - 19-year-old British au pair Louise Woodward, convicted by a Cambridge, Massachusetts, jury of second-degree murder the day before, is sentenced to life in prison.
- 1998 - Iraq disarmament crisis begins: Iraq announces it would no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
- 1999 - EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board.
- 1999 - Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran Church leaders sign the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, ending a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.
- 2000 - A Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 operating as Flight 006 collides with construction equipment upon takeoff in Taipei, Taiwan killing 79 passengers and 4 crew members
- 2000 - A chartered Antonov AN-26 explodes after takeoff in Northern Angola killing 50
- 2000 - The last Multics machine was shut down.
- 2002 - A federal grand jury in Houston formally indicted former Enron Corp. chief financial officer Andrew Fastow on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice related to the collapse of his ex-employer.
- 2003 - A bankruptcy court approves MCI's reorganization plans, essentially clearing the telecommunications company to exit bankruptcy.
- 2003 - Mahathir bin Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia after 22 years in power.
- 2005 - President George W. Bush nominates Appeals court judge Samuel Alito to join the Supreme Court of the United States.
- 2005 - BSkyB starts broadcasting Sky Three on Sky, ntl and Freeview throughout the United Kingdom.
- 2005 - Theo Epstein, the general manager of the Boston Red Sox who helped the team win its first World Series in 86 years, unexpectedly quit during contract negotiations.
- 2005 After 40 years Britanina Airwyas ceases to exist, It is integrated into Tohmsonfly

Births


- 1291 - Philippe de Vitry, French composer (d. 1361)
- 1345 - King Fernando I of Portugal (d. 1383)
- 1391 - King Duarte of Portugal (d. 1438)
- 1424 - King Wladislaus III of Poland (d. 1444)
- 1538 - Caesar Baronius, Italian cardinal and historian (d. 1607)
- 1599 - Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles, English statesman and writer (d. 1680)
- 1620 - John Evelyn, English diarist (d. 1706)
- 1622 - Pierre Paul Puget, French artist (d. 1694)
- 1632 - (baptism) Johannes Vermeer, Flemish painter (d. 1675)
- 1636 - Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria (d. 1679)
- 1705 - Pope Clement XIV (d. 1774)
- 1711 - Laura Bassi, Italian scholar (d. 1778)
- 1724 - Christopher Anstey, English writer (d. 1805)
- 1795 - John Keats, British poet (d. 1821)
- 1815 - Karl Weierstraß, German mathematician (d. 1897)
- 1831 - Paolo Mantegazza, Italian neurologist (d. 1910)
- 1835 - Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1917)
- 1860 - Juliette Low, American founder of the Girl Scouts
- 1875 - Eugene Meyer, American businessman and newspaper publisher (d. 1954)
- 1887 - Chiang Kai-shek, Nationalist Chinese leader (d. 1975)
- 1892 - Alexander Alekhine, Russian chess player (d. 1946)
- 1895 - Basil Liddell Hart, British military historian (d. 1970)
- 1896 - Ethel Waters, American singer and actress (d. 1977)
- 1912 - Dale Evans, American singer and actress (d. 2001)
- 1917 - Thomas Hill, Canadian actor
- 1918 - Ian Stevenson, American parapsychologist
- 1920 - Dick Francis, Welsh novelist
- 1920 - Helmut Newton, German photographer (d. 2004)
- 1920 - Fritz Walter, German footballer
- 1922 - Barbara Bel Geddes, American actress (d. 2005)
- 1922 - Illinois Jacquet, American saxophonist (d. 2004)
- 1922 - King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia
- 1925 - John Anthony Pople, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
- 1927 - Lee Grant, American actress
- 1928 - Cleo Moore, American actress (d. 1973)
- 1929 - Eddie Charlton, Australian snooker player (d. 1994)
- 1930 - Michael Collins, astronaut
- 1931 - Dan Rather, American television journalist
- 1936 - Michael Landon, American actor (d. 1991)
- 1937 - Tom Paxton, American singer
- 1939 - Ron Rifkin, American actor
- 1944 - Kinky Friedman, American musician and novelist
- 1945 - Brian Doyle-Murray, American comedian and actor
- 1946 - Stephen Rea, Irish actor
- 1946 - Norman Lovett, British actor
- 1947 - Deidre Hall, American actress
- 1947 - Frank Shorter, American runner
- 1950 - John Candy, Canadian comedian and actor (d. 1994)
- 1950 - Jane Pauley, American news anchor
- 1953 - Michael J. Anderson, American actor
- 1958 - Jeannie Longo, French cyclist
- 1959 - Neal Stephenson, American author
- 1961 - Peter Jackson, New Zealand film director
- 1961 - Larry Mullen, Irish drummer (U2)
- 1961 - Alonzo Babers, American runner
- 1961 - Kate Campbell, American musician
- 1963 - Dunga, Brazilian footballer
- 1963 - Fred McGriff, baseball player
- 1963 - Rob Schneider, American actor
- 1964 - Marco van Basten, Dutch football player
- 1965 - Annabella Lwin, British singer (Bow Wow Wow)
- 1966 - Adam Horovitz, American singer (Beastie Boys)
- 1968 - Antonio Davis, American basketball player
- 1968 - Vanilla Ice, American rapper
- 1970 - Linn Berggren, Swedish singer (Ace of Base)
- 1970 - Rogers Stevens, American guitarist (Blind Melon)
- 1971 - Alphonso Ford, American basketball player (d. 2004)
- 1971 - Ian Walker, English footballer
- 1972 - Shaun Bartlett, South African footballer
- 1974 - Muzzy Izzet, Turkish footballer
- 1980 - Eddie Kaye Thomas, American actor
- 1981 - Irina Denezhkina, Russian writer
- 1981 - Frank Iero, American guitarist (My Chemical Romance)
- 1986 - Christie Hayes, Australian actress

Deaths


- 1147 - Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, English politician
- 1214 - Leonora of England, queen of Alfonso VIII of Castile (b. 1162)
- 1448 - John VIII Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1390)
- 1517 - Fra Bartolommeo, Italian artist (b. 1472)
- 1659 - John Bradshaw, English judge (b. 1602)
- 1723 - Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1642)
- 1732 - Victor Amadeus II of Savoy (b. 1666)
- 1733 - Eberhard IV Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1676)
- 1744 - Leonardo Leo, Italian composer (b. 1694)
- 1765 - Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, English military leader (b. 1721)
- 1768 - Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian composer (b. 1690)
- 1860 - Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, British admiral (b. 1775)
- 1879 - Jacob Abbott, American author (b. 1803)
- 1916 - Charles Taze Russell, American founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses (b. 1852)
- 1926 - Harry Houdini, Hungarian-born magician (b. 1874)
- 1939 - Otto Rank, Austrian psychologist (b. 1884)
- 1943 - Max Reinhardt, German film director (b. 1873)
- 1983 - George Halas, American football player, coach, and team owner (b. 1895)
- 1984 - Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (b. 1917)
- 1985 - Poul Reichhardt, Danish actor (b. 1913)
- 1986 - Robert S. Mulliken, American physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1896)
- 1987 - Joseph Campbell, American author and expert on mythology (b. 1904)
- 1988 - John Houseman, Romanian-born actor and director (b. 1902)
- 1991 - Joseph Papp, American theatrical producer (b. 1921)
- 1993 - Federico Fellini, Italian director (b. 1920)
- 1993 - River Phoenix, American actor (drug overdose) (b. 1970)
- 1995 - Rosalind Cash, American actress (b. 1938)
- 1999 - Greg Moore, Canadian race car driver (b. 1975)
- 2000 - Ring Lardner, Jr., American screenwriter (b. 1915)
- 2002 - Lionel Poilâne, French baker and entrepreneur (b. 1945)
- 2003 - Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Indian singer (b. 1908)
- 2003 - Dharmsamrat Paramhans Swami Madhavananda, Indian guru (b. 1923)
- 2003 - Richard Neustadt, American political historian (b. 1919)
- 2005 - Mary Wimbush, English actress (b. 1924)
- 2005 - John "Beatz" Holohan, American drummer (Bayside) (b. 1974)

Holidays and observances


- R.C. Saints - October 31 is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:
  - St. Antoninus
  - St. Arnulf
  - St. Bega
  - St. Notburga
  - St. Quentin
  - St Urban
  - St. Wolfgang
- Also see October 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Protestant Church - Reformation Day: Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the Wittenberg church on this day in 1517
- October 31st is Halloween; also see Samhain (an approximate date)
- Cornwall - Allantide
- Wikipedia - Wikipedia:Tim Starling Day
- Paganism and Celts - Samhain
- October 31st is Nevada Day

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/31 BBC: On This Day] ---- October 30 - November 1 - September 30 - November 30 -- listing of all days ko:10월 31일 ms:31 Oktober ja:10月31日 simple:October 31 th:31 ตุลาคม

November 1

November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 60 days remaining.

Events


- 996 - Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk, Bishop of Freising, which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi (Austria in Old High German).
- 1512 - The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time.
- 1520 - The Strait of Magellan, the passage immediately south of mainland South America, connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, is first navigated by Ferdinand Magellan during his global circumnavigation voyage.
- 1530 - An approximated 400,000 die after the Netherlands' dikes fail.
- 1592 - At the Battle of Busan, the outnumbered Korean navy defeats a larger Japanese army.
- 1604 - William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello is presented for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London.
- 1611 - William Shakespeare's romantic comedy The Tempest is presented for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London.
- 1612 - (22 October O.S.) Time of Troubles in Russia: Moscow Kitai-gorod taken by Russian troops under command of Dmitry Pozharsky
- 1683 - The British crown colony of New York is subdivided into 12 counties.
- 1755 - Lisbon earthquake: In Portugal, Lisbon is destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing between sixty and ninety thousand people.
- 1765 - The British Parliament enacts the Stamp Act on the 13 colonies in order to help pay for British military operations in North America.
- 1790 - Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France, in which he predicts that the French Revolution will end in disaster.
- 1800 - US President John Adams becomes the first President of the United States to live in the Executive Mansion (later renamed the White House).
- 1848 - In Boston, Massachusetts, the first medical school for women, The Boston Female Medical School (which will later merge with Boston University School of Medicine), opens.
- 1859 - The current Cape Lookout, North Carolina, lighthouse is lighted for the first time. Its first-order Fresnel lens can be seen for 19 miles (30 kilometers).
- 1861 - American Civil War: US President Abraham Lincoln appoints George McClellan as commander of the Union Army, replacing the aged General Winfield Scott.
- 1870 - In the United States, the Weather Bureau (later renamed the National Weather Service) makes its first official meteorological forecast.
- 1871 - The Stamford to Bourne, Lincolnshire turnpike road was freed from tolls.
- 1876 - New Zealand's provincial government system is dissolved.
- 1894 - Nicholas II becomes the new Tsar of Russia after his father, Alexander III, dies.
- 1896 - A picture showing the naked breasts of a woman appears in National Geographic magazine for the first time.
- 1901 - Sigma Phi Epsilon, a national men's collegiate fraternity is established at Richmond College, in Richmond, VA.
- 1914 - World War I: the first British naval defeat of the war, the Battle of Coronel is fought off of the coast of Chile.
- 1918 - Malbone Street Wreck: the worst rapid transit accident in US history occurs under the intersection of Malbone Street and Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, New York City, with at least 93 dead. Western Ukraine gains independence from Austria-Hungary
- 1922 - The last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI, abdicates.
- 1939 - The first rabbit born after artificial insemination is shown to the world.
- 1943 - World War II: Operation Goodtime launched - United States Marines invade Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.
- 1944 - World War II: Operation Infatuate launched - The British Army land at Walcheren in the Netherlands.
- 1945 - The official North Korean newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, is first published under the name Chongro.
- 1948 - Off southern Manchuria, 6,000 are killed as a Chinese merchant ship explodes and sinks.
- 1950 - Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate US President Harry S. Truman at Blair House.
- 1950 - Pope Pius XII claims Papal Infallibility when he formally defines the dogma of the Assumption of Mary.
- 1951 - US soldiers are exposed to an atomic explosion for training purposes in Desert Rock, Nevada; participation was not voluntary.
- 1952 - Operation Ivy - The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike" ["m" for megaton], at Eniwetok island in the Bikini atoll located in the Pacific Ocean.
- 1954 - The Front de Libération Nationale fires the first shots of the Algerian War of Independence.
- 1955 - A United Airlines DC-6B explodes in mid-air and crashes near Longmont, Colorado, killing 44 people
- 1956- Formation of the Indian state of Karnataka (1973), formerly known as Mysore State.
- 1956 - Formation of Kerala state in India.
- 1957 - The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at the time, opens to traffic connecting Michigan's two peninsulas.
- 1960 - While campaigning for President of the United States, John F. Kennedy announces his idea of the Peace Corps.
- 1963 - The Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, with the largest radio telescope ever constructed, officially opens.
- 1969 - After seven years off the top of the charts, Elvis Presley hits number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his song "Suspicious Minds."
- 1970 - A fire at a dance hall in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France kills 144 young people.
- 1973 - Watergate Scandal: Leon Jaworski is appointed as the new Watergate Special Prosecutor.
- 1973 - Formation of Karnataka state in India.
- 1980 - Wayanad district formed in the state of Kerala, India.
- 1981 - Antigua and Barbuda gain independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1990 - A New York City civil jury awards Sandra Miller $100 for battery after an incident in which Mike Tyson grabbed her breasts and insulted her; the jury found Tyson's behavior "not outrageous".
- 1993 - The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.
- 1994 - George Lucas leaves the day-to-day operations of his filmmaking business and starts a sabbatical. While on sabbatical, he writes the prequel section of the Star Wars movies.
- 1994 - The Chijon Family is sentenced to death in South Korea for murdering and eating five people.
- 1998 - The European Court of Human Rights is instituted.
- 2004 - The Bank of Japan issues a new series of 1000, 5000, and 10,000 yen notes. Both old and the new series will circulate together.
- 2005 - ITV PLC's new digital channel, ITV4, lanches on Freeview, NTL digital, and Sky Digital.
- 2005 - Makybe Diva wins her third consecutive Melbourne Cup race.
- 2005 - First part of the Gomery Report, which discusses allegations of political money manipulation, is released in Canada.
- 2005 - The U.S. Senate enters a rare closed session to discuss the Plame affair and intelligence in the Iraq disarmament crisis.

Births


- 846 - Louis the Stammerer, King of West Francia (d. 879)
- 1339 - Duke Rudolf IV of Austria (d. 1365)
- 1351 - Duke Leopold III of Austria (d. 1386)
- 1500 - Benvenuto Cellini, Italian goldsmith, sculptor, and writer (d. 1571)
- 1530 - Étienne de La Boétie, French judge and writer (d. 1563)
- 1539 - Pierre Pithou, French lawyer and scholar (d. 1596)
- 1567 - Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, conde de Gondomar, Spanish diplomat (d. 1626)
- 1578 - Dmitry Pozharsky, Russian prince (d. 1642)
- 1585 - Jan Brożek, Polish mathematician, physician, and astronomer (d. 1652)
- 1607 - Georg Philipp Harsdorffer, German poet (d. 1658)
- 1611 - François-Marie, comte de Broglie, Italian-born French commander (d. 1656)
- 1636 - Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, French poet and critic (d. 1711)
- 1643 - John Strype, English historian and biographer (d. 1737)
- 1661 - Florent Carton Dancourt, French dramatist and actor (d. 1725)
- 1704 - Paul Daniel Longolius, German encylopedist (d. 1779)
- 1720 - Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte, French admiral (d. 1791)
- 1762 - Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1812)
- 1778 - Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden (d. 1837)
- 1808 - John Taylor, American religious leader (d. 1887)
- 1860 - Boies Penrose, United States Senator from Pennsylvania (d. 1921)
- 1871 - Stephen Crane, American writer (d. 1900)
- 1877 - Roger Quilter, British composer (d. 1953)
- 1878 - Konrad Mägi, Estonian painter (d. 1925)
- 1878 - Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentine politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1959)
- 1880 - Sholom Asch, Polish-born American writer (d. 1957)
- 1880 - Grantland Rice, American sports writer (d. 1954)
- 1880 - Alfred Wegener, German meteorologist and geophysicist (d. 1930)
- 1886 - Hermann Broch, Austrian author (d. 1951)
- 1887 - L. S. Lowry, British painter of industrial scenes (d. 1976)
- 1889 - Philip Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker, Canadian-born peace activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1982)
- 1892 - Alexander Alekhine, Russian-born many times World Champion chess player (d. 1946)
- 1902 - Eugen Jochum, German conductor (d. 1987)
- 1923 - Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian author (d. 2001)
- 1923 - Victoria de los Angeles, Catalan soprano (d. 2005)
- 1929 - Betsy Palmer, American actress
- 1929 - Nicholas Mavroules, United States Congressman from Massachusetts (d. 2003)
- 1934 - Umberto Agnelli, Swiss-born automobile executive (d. 2004)
- 1934 - William Mathias, British composer (d. 1992)
- 1935 - Gary Player, South African golfer
- 1935 - Edward Said, Palestinian-born literary critic (d. 2003)
- 1939 - Barbara Bosson, American actress
- 1940 - Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, Chief Justice of India
- 1942 - Larry Flynt, American magazine publisher
- 1942 - Ralph Klein, Premier of Alberta
- 1949 -Michael Griffin, NASA chief administrator
- 1950 - Robert B. Laughlin, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1957 - Lyle Lovett, American singer
- 1957 - Carlos Paião, Portuguese singer (d. 1988)
- 1962 - Anthony Kiedis, American singer (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
- 1963 - Rick Allen, British drummer (Def Leppard)
- 1967 - Sophie B. Hawkins, American musician
- 1972 - Toni Collette, Australian actress
- 1972 - Paul Dickov, Scottish footballer
- 1973 - Aishwarya Rai, Indian actress
- 1974 - VVS Laxman, Indian cricketer
- 1976 - Matt Chapman, American cartoonist and voice actor
- 1978 - Manju Warrier, Indian actress

Deaths


- 1296 - Guillaume Durand, French writer
- 1391 - Amadeus VII of Savoy (b. 1360)
- 1399 - John V, Duke of Brittany (b. 1339)
- 1546 - Giulio Romano, Italian painter
- 1588 - Jean Daurat, French poet (b. 1508)
- 1596 - Pierre Pithou, French lawyer and scholar (b. 1539)
- 1642 - Jean Nicolet, French explorer (b. 1598)
- 1676 - Gisbertus Voetius, Dutch theologian (b. 1589)
- 1678 - William Coddington, first Governor of Rhode Island (b. 1601)
- 1700 - Charles II of Spain (b. 1661)
- 1888 - Nikolai Przhevalsky, Russian explorer (b. 1838)
- 1894 - Tsar Alexander III of Russia (b. 1845)
- 1903 - Theodor Mommsen, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1817)
- 1942 - Hugo Distler, German composer (b. 1908)
- 1972 - Ezra Pound, American poet (b. 1885)
- 1979 - Mamie Eisenhower, First Lady of the United States (b. 1896)
- 1982 - King Vidor, American film director (b. 1894)
- 1983 - Anthony van Hoboken, Dutch musicologist (b. 1887)
- 1985 - Phil Silvers, American actor and comedian (b. 1911)
- 1987 - René Lévesque, Premier of Quebec (b. 1922)
- 1993 - Severo Ochoa, Spanish–born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1905)
- 1999 - Walter Payton, American football player (b. 1954)
- 2004 - Mac Dre, American rap artist (b. 1970)
- 2005 - Skitch Henderson, English-born bandleader (b. 1918)
- 2005 - Michael Piller, American screenwriter (b. 1948)

Holidays and observances


- Roman festivals - last day of the Ludi Victoriae Sullanae.
- Catholicism - Holy Day of Obligation, All Saints Day. Holiday in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, The Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain.
- Also see November 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Algeria - National day, commemorating the begin of the struggle for independence from France.
- Antigua and Barbuda - Independence Day] (from Britain, 1981)
- Ireland - Samhain the traditional first day of Winter
- Mexico - The Day of the Dead
- World Vegan Day
- Kickoff day for National Novel Writing Month

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/1 BBC: On This Day] ---- October 31 - November 2 - October 1 - December 1 - more historical anniversaries ko:11월 1일 ms:1 November ja:11月1日 simple:November 1 th:1 พฤศจิกายน

Operation Ivy

:This page is about Operation Ivy, the nuclear test. For the punk band, see Operation Ivy (band). Operation Ivy was the eighth series of American nuclear tests, coming after Tumbler-Snapper and before Upshot-Knothole. The purpose of the tests was to help upgrade the U.S. arsenal of nuclear weapons, in response to the Russian nuclear weapons program. The two explosions were staged in late 1952 at the Pacific Proving Ground. The first device, codenamed Mike, was notable for being the first successful fusion device; it was based on the Teller-Ulam configuration. Too unwieldy to be deployed as a weapon, it was built to demonstrate the power and possibility of using fusion as a principle for larger-yield nuclear weapons than previously possible. It was detonated on Elugelab Island in the Enewetak atoll of the Marshall Islands. It yielded 10.4 megatons of explosive power, over 450 times the power of the bomb that fell on Nagasaki. The detonation obliterated Elugelab, leaving an underwater crater 6,240 ft (1.9 km) wide and 164 ft (50 m) deep where an island had once been. The second test, King, tested a very large fission bomb, the "Super Oralloy Bomb" (the largest pure fission bomb ever built), intended as a backup if the fusion weapon was a failure. It had a yield of 500 kilotons.

See also


- History of nuclear weapons
- Operation Castle

External links


- [http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Ivy.html Operation Ivy]

References


- Chuck Hansen, U. S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History (Arlington: AeroFax, 1988) Ivy Category:1952

Teller-Ulam design

The Teller-Ulam design is a nuclear weapon design which is used in megaton-range thermonuclear weapons, and is more colloquially referred to as "the secret of the hydrogen bomb". It is named after two of its chief contributors, Hungarian physicist Edward Teller and Polish mathematician Stanisław Ulam, who developed the design in 1951. The idea is generally thought to pertain specifically to the use of a fission bomb "trigger" placed near an amount of fusion fuel, known as "staging", and the use of "radiation implosion" to compress the fusion fuel before igniting it. There are a number of other additions and variations to this idea posited by different sources, outlined below. The first device to be based on this principle was detonated by the United States in the "Ivy Mike" nuclear test in 1952. In the Soviet Union, this design was known as Andrei Sakharov's "Third Idea". Similar devices were developed by the United Kingdom, France, and China as well, though no specific codes names are known for their designs.

Public body of knowledge concerning nuclear weapon design

Detailed knowledge of actual fission and fusion weapons is classified to some degree in virtually every industrialized nation. In the United States, such data can by default be classified as Restricted Data even if it is created by persons who are not government employees or associated with weapons programs, in a legal doctrine known as "born secret" (though the constitutional standing of the doctrine has been at times called into question, see United States v. The Progressive, et al.). Born-secret is rarely invoked for cases of private speculation. The official policy of the United States Department of Energy has been not to acknowledge the leaking of design information, as such acknowledgement would potentially validate the information as accurate. In a small number of prior cases, though (see prior restraint), the U.S. government has attempted to censor weapons information in the public press, with limited success. Though large quantities of vague data have been officially released, and larger quantities of vague data have been unofficially leaked by ex-bomb designers, most public descriptions of nuclear weapon design details rely to some degree on speculation, reverse engineering from known information, or comparison with similar fields of physics (inertial confinement fusion is the primary example). Such processes have resulted in a body of unclassified knowledge about nuclear bombs which is generally consistent with official unclassified information releases, related physics, and is thought to be internally consistent, though there are some points of interpretation which are still considered open. The state of public knowledge about the Teller-Ulam design has been most reliably shaped from a few specific incidences outlined in a section below.

Basic principle

The basic principle of the Teller-Ulam configuration is based upon the idea that different parts of a thermonuclear weapon can be chained together in "stages" which allow for the full detonation of each. At a bare minimum, this implies a primary section which consists of a fission bomb (a "trigger"), and a secondary section which consists of fusion fuel. Because of the "staged" design, it is thought that a tertiary section, again of fusion fuel, could be added as well, based on the same principle of the secondary. The energy released by the primary compresses the secondary through the concept of "radiation implosion", at which point it is heated and undergoes nuclear fusion. radiation implosion Surrounding the other components is a hohlraum or radiation case, a container which traps the first stage or primary's energy inside temporarily. The outside of this radiation case, which is also normally the outside casing of the bomb, is the only direct visual evidence publicly available of any thermonuclear bomb component's configuration. Numerous photographs of various thermonuclear bomb exteriors have been declassified. [http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Weapons/Allbombs.html] The primary is thought to be a standard implosion method fission bomb, though likely with a core boosted by small amounts of fusion fuel for extra efficiency. When fired, the plutonium and/or uranium-235 core would be compressed to a smaller sphere by special layers of conventional high explosives arranged around it in a lens pattern, initiating the nuclear chain reaction that powers the conventional "atomic bomb". The secondary is usually shown as a column of fusion fuel and other components wrapped in many layers. Around the column is first a "pusher-tamper", a heavy layer of unenriched uranium-238 or lead which serves to help compress the fusion fuel (and, in the case of Uranium, may eventually undergo fission itself). Inside this is the fusion fuel itself, usually a form of lithium deuteride. This dry fuel, when bombarded by neutrons, produces tritium, a heavy isotope of hydrogen which can undergo nuclear fusion, along with the deuterium present in the mixture. (See the article on nuclear fusion for a more detailed technical discussion of fusion reactions.) Inside the layer of fuel is the spark plug, a hollow column of fissile material (plutonium or uranium-235) which, when compressed, can itself undergo nuclear fission (because of the shape, it is not a critical mass without compression). The tertiary, if one is present, would be set below the secondary and probably be made up of the same materials. (Hansen 1988 and 1995) The basic idea of the Teller-Ulam configuration is that each "stage" would undergo fission or fusion (or both) and release energy, much of which would be transferred to another stage to trigger its own firing. How exactly the energy is "transported" from the primary to the secondary has been the subject of some disagreement, but is thought to be transmitted through the X-rays which are emitted from the fissioning primary. This energy is then used to compress the secondary. There are five proposed theories:
- Neutron pressure from the primary explosion. This was allegedly Ulam's first concept and was abandoned as unworkable.
- Blast wave from the primary explosion. This was allegedly Ulam's second concept and was abandoned as unworkable.
- Radiation pressure exerted by the X-rays. This was the first idea put forth by Howard Morland in the article in The Progressive.
- X-rays creating a plasma in the radiation case's filler (a polystyrene plastic foam). This was a second idea put forwards by Chuck Hansen and later by Howard Morland.
- Tamper/Pusher Ablation. This is currently believed to be the actual mechanism.

Radiation pressure

The radiation pressure exerted by the large quantity of X-ray photons inside the closed casing might be enough to compress the secondary. For two thermonuclear bombs for which the general size and primary characteristics are well understood, the Ivy Mike test bomb and the modern W-80 cruise missile warhead variant of the W-61 design, the radiation pressure was calculated to be 73 million bar (atmospheres) (7.3 TPa for the Ivy Mike design and 1,400 million bar (140 TPa) for the W-80. [http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Nwfaq/Nfaq4-4.html#Nfaq4.4.3.3]

Foam plasma pressure

Foam plasma pressure is the concept which Chuck Hansen introduced during the Progressive case, based on research which located declassified documents listing special foams as liner components within the radiation case of thermonuclear weapons. The sequence of firing the weapon (with the foam) would be as follows: #The high explosives surrounding the core of the primary fire, compressing the fissile material into a supercritical state and beginning the fission chain reaction. #The fissioning primary emits X-rays at the speed of light, which "reflect" along the inside of the casing, irradiating the polystyr