What is a neutron bomb. Neutron bomb: the history of the creation and principles of operation of weapons Neutron explosion

The purpose of creating neutron weapons in the 60s - 70s was to obtain a tactical warhead, the main damaging factor in which would be the flux of fast neutrons emitted from the explosion area. The radius of the zone of lethal level of neutron radiation in such bombs can even exceed the radius of destruction by a shock wave or light radiation. The neutron charge is structurally
a conventional low-yield nuclear charge, to which is added a block containing a small amount of thermonuclear fuel (a mixture of deuterium and tritium). When detonated, the main nuclear charge explodes, the energy of which is used to start a thermonuclear reaction. Most of the energy of the explosion during the use of neutron weapons is released as a result of a triggered fusion reaction. The design of the charge is such that up to 80% of the explosion energy is the energy of the fast neutron flux, and only 20% is accounted for by the remaining damaging factors (shock wave, EMP, light radiation).
Strong fluxes of high-energy neutrons arise during thermonuclear reactions, for example, the combustion of deuterium-tritium plasma. In this case, the neutrons must not be absorbed by the materials of the bomb and, what is especially important, it is necessary to prevent their capture by the atoms of the fissile material.
For example, we can consider the W-70-mod-0 warhead, with a maximum energy yield of 1 kt, of which 75% is formed due to fusion reactions, 25% - fission. This ratio (3:1) indicates that there are up to 31 fusion reactions per fission reaction. This implies the unhindered release of more than 97% of the fusion neutrons, i.e. without their interaction with the uranium of the starting charge. Therefore, the synthesis must take place in a capsule physically separated from the primary charge.
Observations show that at a temperature developed by a 250-ton explosion and normal density (compressed gas or a compound with lithium), even a deuterium-tritium mixture will not burn with high efficiency. Thermonuclear fuel must be pre-compressed every 10 times for each of the measurements in order for the reaction to proceed quickly enough. Thus, it can be concluded that a charge with an increased radiation output is a kind of radiation implosion scheme.
Unlike classical thermonuclear charges, where lithium deuteride is used as thermonuclear fuel, the above reaction has its advantages. First, despite the high cost and low technology of tritium, this reaction is easy to ignite. Secondly, most of the energy, 80% - comes out in the form of high-energy neutrons, and only 20% - in the form of heat and gamma and X-rays.
Of the design features, it is worth noting the absence of a plutonium ignition rod. Due to the small amount of fusion fuel and the low temperature of the start of the reaction, there is no need for it. It is very likely that the reaction is ignited in the center of the capsule, where high pressure and temperature develop as a result of the convergence of the shock wave.
The total amount of fissile materials for a 1-kt neutron bomb is about 10 kg. The 750-ton energy yield of fusion means the presence of 10 grams of a deuterium-tritium mixture. The gas can be compressed to a density of 0.25 g/cm3, i.e. the volume of the capsule will be about 40 cm3, it is a ball 5-6 cm in diameter.
The creation of such weapons led to the low effectiveness of conventional tactical nuclear charges against armored targets, such as tanks, armored vehicles, etc. Due to the presence of an armored hull and an air filtration system, armored vehicles are able to withstand all the damaging factors of nuclear weapons: shock wave, light radiation, penetrating radiation, radioactive contamination of the area and can effectively solve combat missions even in areas relatively close to the epicenter.
In addition, for a missile defense system with nuclear warheads being created at that time, it would have been just as inefficient for anti-missiles to use conventional nuclear charges. Under explosion conditions in the upper layers of the atmosphere (tens of kilometers), the air shock wave is practically absent, and the soft X-ray radiation emitted by the charge can be intensively absorbed by the warhead shell.
A powerful stream of neutrons is not delayed by ordinary steel armor and penetrates through obstacles much more strongly than X-rays or gamma radiation, not to mention alpha and beta particles. Due to this, neutron weapons are capable of hitting enemy manpower at a considerable distance from the epicenter of the explosion and in shelters, even where reliable protection against a conventional nuclear explosion is provided.
The damaging effect of neutron weapons on equipment is due to the interaction of neutrons with structural materials and radio-electronic equipment, which leads to the appearance of induced radioactivity and, as a result, to a malfunction. In biological objects, under the action of radiation, ionization of living tissue occurs, leading to disruption of the vital activity of individual systems and the organism as a whole, and the development of radiation sickness. People are affected by both neutron radiation itself and induced radiation. Powerful and long-acting sources of radioactivity can be formed in equipment and objects under the action of a neutron flux, leading to the defeat of people for a long time after the explosion. So, for example, the crew of a T-72 tank located 700 meters from the epicenter of a neutron explosion with a power of 1 kt will instantly receive an unconditionally lethal dose of radiation and die within a few minutes. But if this tank is used again after the explosion (physically, it will hardly suffer), then the induced radioactivity will lead to the new crew receiving a lethal dose of radiation within a day.
Due to the strong absorption and scattering of neutrons in the atmosphere, the range of damage by neutron radiation is small. Therefore, the manufacture of high-power neutron charges is impractical - the radiation will still not reach further, and other damaging factors will be reduced. Really produced neutron munitions have a yield of no more than 1 kt. Undermining such a munition gives a zone of destruction by neutron radiation with a radius of about 1.5 km (an unprotected person will receive a life-threatening dose of radiation at a distance of 1350 m). Contrary to popular belief, a neutron explosion does not at all leave material values ​​unscathed: the zone of strong destruction by a shock wave for the same kiloton charge has a radius of about 1 km. the shock wave can destroy or severely damage most buildings.
Naturally, after the appearance of reports on the development of neutron weapons, methods of protection against it began to be developed. New types of armor have been developed that are already capable of protecting equipment and its crew from neutron radiation. For this purpose, sheets with a high content of boron, which is a good neutron absorber, are added to the armor, and depleted uranium (uranium with a reduced proportion of U234 and U235 isotopes) is added to the armor steel. In addition, the composition of the armor is chosen so that it does not contain elements that give strong induced radioactivity under the action of neutron irradiation.
Work on neutron weapons has been carried out in several countries since the 1960s. For the first time the technology of its production was developed in the USA in the second half of the 1970s. Now Russia and France also have the ability to produce such weapons.
The danger of neutron weapons, as well as nuclear weapons of small and ultra-low yield in general, lies not so much in the possibility of mass destruction of people (this can be done by many others, including long-existing and more effective types of WMD for this purpose), but in blurring the line between nuclear and conventional warfare when using it. Therefore, a number of resolutions of the UN General Assembly note the dangerous consequences of the emergence of a new variety of weapons of mass destruction - neutrons, and call for its prohibition. In 1978, when the issue of the production of neutron weapons had not yet been resolved in the United States, the USSR proposed an agreement on the renunciation of its use and submitted a draft international convention on its prohibition for consideration by the Disarmament Committee. The project did not find support from the United States and other Western countries. In 1981, the production of neutron charges began in the United States, and they are currently in service.

On July 7, 1977, the United States conducted the first test of a neutron bomb. Once upon a time, Soviet schoolchildren were frightened by a deadly neutron bomb, which was in service with the American army. However, was this type of nuclear weapon really as deadly as it was said to be? And why, in the country where the bomb was created, in the United States, was it removed from service before anyone else - in the 1990s?

On November 28, 2010, the American scientist Samuel Cohen, who was called the "father of neutron weapons", died. It was he who in 1958, working at the Livermore National Laboratory, proposed the project of the world's first neutron bomb. Since that time, this type of weapon has turned into a kind of scarecrow, about which many scary stories were told in the USSR. However, was this type of nuclear weapon really as deadly as it was said to be?

What was this type of weapon? Recall: a neutron bomb is a conventional low-power nuclear charge, to which is added a block containing a small amount of thermonuclear fuel (a mixture of radioactive hydrogen isotopes of deuterium and tritium, with a high content of the latter as a source of fast neutrons). When it is detonated, the main nuclear charge explodes, the energy of which is used to start a thermonuclear reaction.

As a result, a stream of uncharged particles, called neutrons, is released into the external environment. Moreover, the design of the charge is such that up to 80 percent of the energy of the explosion is the energy of the fast neutron flux, and only 20 percent is accounted for by other damaging factors (that is, a shock wave, an electromagnetic pulse, light radiation). Therefore, as the creators of the new weapons at that time stated, such a bomb was “more humane” than a traditional nuclear or Soviet hydrogen bomb - during its explosion there is no serious destruction over a large area and blazing fires.

However, they slightly exaggerated about the absence of destruction. As the first tests showed, all buildings within a radius of about 1 kilometer from the epicenter of the explosion were completely destroyed. Although this, of course, cannot be compared with what the nuclear bomb did in Hiroshima or with what the domestic hydrogen "tsar bomb" could do. Yes, in general, this bomb was not created at all in order to turn cities and villages into ruins - it was supposed to destroy only the enemy’s manpower.

This happened with the help of neutron radiation arising from the explosion - a stream of neutrons that convert their energy in elastic and inelastic interactions with the nuclei of atoms. It is known that the penetrating power of neutrons is very high due to the absence of a charge and, as a result, a weak interaction with the substance through which they pass. Nevertheless, it still depends on their energy and the composition of the atoms of the very substance that happened to be in their path.

It is interesting that many heavy materials, such as metals from which the armor coating of military equipment is made, do not protect well from neutron radiation, while they may well be saved from gamma radiation resulting from the explosion of a conventional nuclear bomb. So the idea of ​​a neutron bomb was based precisely on how to increase the effectiveness of hitting armored targets and people protected by armor and simple shelters.

It is known that the armored vehicles of the 1960s, designed with the possibility of using nuclear weapons on the battlefield, were extremely resistant to all its damaging factors. That is, even the use of a classic atomic bomb could not lead to heavy losses in the enemy troops, protected from all its "charms" by the powerful armor of tanks and other military vehicles. So the neutron bomb was supposed to eliminate this problem, as it were.

Experiments showed that the explosion of a low-power, in general, bomb (with a capacity of only 1 kt of TNT) generated destructive neutron radiation that killed all life within a radius of 2.5 kilometers. In addition, neutrons, passing through many protective structures like the same metals, as well as through the ground in the area of ​​​​the explosion, caused the appearance of the so-called induced radioactivity in them, since they can enter into nuclear reactions with atoms, as a result of which radioactive isotopes are formed. It remained in technology for many hours after the explosion and could become an additional source of damage to people serving it.

So, with the explosion of a neutron bomb, the chances of staying alive, even sitting in a tank, were very small. At the same time, these weapons did not cause long-term radioactive contamination of the area. According to its creators, the epicenter of the explosion can be "safely" approached in twelve hours. For comparison, it should be said that a hydrogen bomb, during an explosion, infects an area with a radius of about 7 kilometers with radioactive substances for several years.

In addition, neutron charges were supposed to be used in missile defense systems. To protect against a massive missile attack in those years, anti-aircraft missile systems with a nuclear warhead were put into service, but the use of conventional nuclear weapons against high-altitude targets was considered insufficiently effective. The fact is that their main damaging factors when hunting for enemy missiles turned out to be ineffective.

For example, a shock wave does not occur at all in rarefied air at high altitude, and even more so in space, light radiation hits warheads only in the immediate vicinity of the center of the explosion, and gamma radiation is absorbed by warhead shells and cannot cause them serious harm. Under such conditions, the conversion of the maximum part of the explosion energy into neutron radiation could make it possible to more reliably hit enemy missiles.

So, starting from the second half of the 70s of the last century, the technology for creating neutron charges was developed in the USA, and in 1981 the production of the corresponding warheads began. However, neutron weapons remained in service for a very short time - just over ten years. The fact is that after the appearance of reports on the development of neutron weapons, methods of protection against it immediately began to be developed.

As a result, new types of armor appeared, already capable of protecting equipment and its crew from neutron radiation. For this purpose, sheets with a high content of boron, a good neutron absorber, were added to it, and depleted uranium (that is, uranium with a reduced proportion of nuclides, 234 U and 235 U) was included in the steel itself. In addition, the composition of the armor was selected in such a way that it no longer contained elements that give induced radioactivity under the action of neutron irradiation. All these developments have brought to naught the danger of using neutron weapons.

As a result, the country that first created the neutron bomb was the first to abandon its use. In 1992, the United States scrapped the last warheads containing a neutron charge.

The neutron bomb was first developed in the 60s of the last century in the United States. Now these technologies are available to Russia, France and China. These are relatively small charges and are considered to be nuclear weapons of low and ultra-low strength. However, the bomb has artificially increased the power of neutron radiation, which strikes and destroys protein bodies. Neutron radiation perfectly penetrates armor and can destroy manpower even in specialized bunkers.

The peak of the creation of neutron bombs came in the United States in the 80s. A large number of protests and the emergence of new types of armor forced the US military to stop their production. The last US bomb was dismantled in 1993.

At the same time, the explosion does not cause any serious damage - the funnel from it is small and the shock wave is insignificant. The radiation background after the explosion is normalized in a relatively short time, after two or three years the Geiger counter does not register any anomalies. Naturally, neutron bombs were in the arsenal of the world's leading bombs, but not a single case of their combat use was recorded. It is believed that the neutron bomb lowers the so-called threshold of nuclear war, which dramatically increases the chances of its use in major military conflicts.

How does a neutron bomb work and how to protect

The composition of the bomb includes the usual plutonium charge and a little thermonuclear deuterium-tritium mixture. When a plutonium charge is detonated, the nuclei of deuterium and tritium fuse, which causes concentrated neutron radiation. Modern military scientists can make a bomb with a directed charge of radiation up to a band of several hundred meters. Naturally, this is a terrible weapon, from which there is no escape. The field of its application, military strategists consider the fields and roads along which armored vehicles move.

It is not known whether the neutron bomb is currently in service with Russia and China. The benefits of its use on the battlefield are rather arbitrary, but the weapon is very effective in terms of the destruction of the civilian population.

The damaging effect of neutron radiation disables the combat personnel inside the armored vehicles, while the equipment itself does not suffer and can be captured as a trophy. Especially for protection against neutron weapons, special armor was developed, which includes sheets with a high content of boron, which absorbs radiation. They also try to use such alloys that would not contain elements that give a strong radioactive focus.

During the explosion of a neutron bomb, the main damaging factor is the neutron flux. It passes through most objects, but harms living organisms at the level of atoms and particles. Radiation primarily affects brain tissue, causing shock, convulsions, paralysis, and coma. In addition, neutrons transform the atoms inside the human body, creating radioactive isotopes that irradiate the body from the inside. Death in this case does not occur instantly, but within 2 days.

If you drop a neutron charge on a city, the main part of the buildings within a radius of 2 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion will remain, while people and animals will die. For example, to destroy the entire population of Paris, as it was calculated, 10-12 bombs are enough. Those residents who manage to survive will suffer from radiation sickness for years.

“The ominous prototype of such a weapon was the atomic bomb dropped by an American pilot on August 6, 1945 on Hiroshima. It has now been established that this bomb (uranium) produced 4-5 times more neutrons when exploded than the bomb exploded in Nagasaki (plutonium). And as a result, almost 3 times more people died in Hiroshima than in Nagasaki, although the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was two times less, ”wrote Ivan Artsibasov, the author of the book Beyond Legality, in 1986.

The use of a bomb with a source of fast neutrons (a beryllium isotope) was suggested in 1958 by the American physicist Samuel Cohen. For the first time, the US military tested such a charge 5 years later at an underground test site in Nevada.

As soon as the public learned about the new type of weapon, opinions were divided about the admissibility of its use. Some welcomed the "rational" way of waging war, avoiding unnecessary destruction and economic losses. Cohen himself, who witnessed the destruction of Seoul during the Korean War, argued in a similar way. Critics of neutron weapons, on the contrary, argued that with its appearance, mankind has reached the point of "complete fanaticism." In the 1970s and 1980s, with the support of Moscow, the left-wing intelligentsia launched a movement against neutron bombs, the production of which was launched in 1981 by the administration of Ronald Reagan. The fear of "neutron death" is so ingrained that US military propagandists even resorted to euphemisms, calling the neutron bomb an "enhanced radiation device".

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The "cleanest" bomb. Destroys exclusively the manpower of the enemy. Does not destroy buildings. An ideal weapon for mass cleansing of territories from the communists. This is exactly what the American developers of the “most humane” nuclear weapon, the neutron bomb, thought.

On November 17, 1978, the USSR announced the successful test of a neutron bomb, and both superpowers once again had parity in the latest weapons. The neutron bomb began to be haunted by endless myths.

Myth 1: The neutron bomb only destroys people.

That's what they thought at first. The explosion of this contraption, in theory, should not have caused damage to equipment and buildings. But only on paper.

In fact, no matter how we design a special atomic weapon, its detonation will still generate a shock wave.

The difference between a neutron bomb is that the shock wave accounts for only 10-20 percent of the released energy, while the conventional atomic bomb has 50 percent.

Explosions of neutron charges at a test site in the Nevada desert in the United States showed that within a radius of several hundred meters, the shock wave demolishes all buildings and structures.

Myth 2: The more powerful the neutron bomb, the better

Initially, the neutron bomb was planned to be riveted in several versions - from one kiloton and above. However, calculations and tests have shown that making a bomb larger than one kiloton is not very promising.

So - if not a bomb, but the neutron weapon itself, it is too early to write it off as scrap.