 |
| Today on a business walk, not in North Korea...thankfully |
I have never 'worried' about the threat of nuclear war. It is a reasonable philosophical possibility, in my opinion,
It may happen one day, it may not. It may be an aspect of God's eschatology, and it may not.
As my friend Darren and I have discussed since our days back in the 1990s at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford; we both support nuclear disarmament, and support the existence of less nuclear weapons, but not unilateral disarmament by the Western powers.
However, as the nuclear technology exists after nuclear disarmament, even in the context of conventional war, nuclear weapons can once again can be created and mass created.
Therefore, even with nuclear disarmament, a threat of nuclear war remains.
With a rogue nuclear state such as North Korea in existence, nuclear disarmament is quite unlikely, indeed...
CNN January 8 2016
Cited
'Pyongyang, North Korea (CNN) At the Korean demilitarized zone, speakers are blasting propaganda and troops are massing, but in the heart of Pyongyang, talk is only of the purported success of North Korea's first hydrogen bomb test.'
Cited
'Another visitor to the center, 22-year-old medical student Lee Jue Sung, said that the nuclear program "is for national defense, to protect our country from our enemy."
"U.S. imperialists always want to invade our country, they are so aggressive," he said.'
Cited
'The purported H-bomb test, as well as previous nuclear tests, "cements (Kim's) authority domestically and his clout internationally," said Mike Chinoy, former CNN International correspondent and the author of "Meltdown: The inside story of the North Korean nuclear crisis."
"By developing the nuclear capability, Kim will be able to cut the budget of the conventional military and bring them to heel."
Later this year, Kim will helm the Worker's Party Congress, the first time such a gathering has been held in 35 years, and may represent a realignment of political power away from the military.'
 |
| CNN: North Korea-Science and Technology Center |
CBC News January 7 2016
Cited
'North Korea wants an H-bomb but experts doubt it tested one'
'Building H-bombs much more complex than A-bombs'
Cited
'North Korea's government bragged Wednesday that it had tested "a smaller H-bomb," calling it the "H-bomb of justice."
White House spokesman Josh Earnest, however, counters that initial analysis "is not consistent with the North Korean claims of a successful hydrogen-bomb test."
Earnest did describe the blast as a nuclear test, making the one this week North Korea's fourth. And Melissa Hanham, a Canadian expert on North Korea with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, Calif., told CBC News that it was "pretty much universally acknowledged it was a nuclear test, but there's a lot of skepticism about whether it was an H-bomb test."
The South Korean military also doubts it was an H-bomb test, according the South Korea's Yonhap news agency.'
Cited
'Hanham says when, and if, radionuclide data from the explosion becomes available, experts should have a pretty good idea of just what kind of explosion it was. That could take anywhere from two weeks to two months.'
Cited
'A-bombs versus H-bombs
There are some key differences between atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs.
In basic terms:
An A-bomb relies on fission, the splitting of atoms.
An H-bomb relies on fusion, which produces energy through combining light atoms to make heavier ones.
A fission bomb uses an ordinary explosion to bring together enough uranium or plutonium to create a critical mass, which causes a much, much bigger explosion.
A fusion bomb uses a fission explosion to compress hydrogen, making it very dense and hot, so that the hydrogen atoms fuse rather than fly apart, also causing a much larger explosion.'
Cited
'Assessing North Korea's test claims are complicated by the fact that while a fully developed H-bomb is more complex than a basic atomic bomb, there are variations of atomic bombs that incorporate hydrogen.'
Cited
'North Korea's statement describes its H-bomb test as a "spectacular success" but Hanham says she doubts Wednesday's blast in North Korea could have been a full H-bomb test.
Melissa Hanham, an expert on North Korea with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, says, 'Almost no one thinks North Korea is at a point in their development where they could do an H-bomb test.' (Middlebury Institute of International Studies)
The explosion wasn't big enough, according to the seismic data. A good thing, too, she says, since the Punggye-ri test site couldn't have contained the explosion if it was a real H-bomb, nor is she aware of evidence the country had prepared the site for such a test.'
Cited
'Hanham hypothesizes that the country definitely wants to have an H-bomb, but it is probably experimenting with some kind of boosted nuclear device. However, she does note the slight possibility that it was a failed test in which only the fission reaction went off, without initiating the fusion reaction.'
The Oxford Dictionary of Science documents that nuclear weapons are caused by nuclear fission, nuclear fusion or a combination of both. (572).
With the fission bomb, the atomic bomb, 'two subcritical masses' of fissile material (uranium-235 or plutonium-239) are brought together by a chemical explosion to produce one supercritical mass. (572).
The resulting explosion is typically in the 'kiloton range with temperatures of the order of 108 K being reached'. (572).
K=Kelvin:Thermodynamic temperature (893).
In contrast the fusion bomb, the thermonuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb, relies on nuclear-fusion reaction. (572).
This becomes self-sustaining at a temperature of about 35 x 106 K. (572).
The text states the process can take place as two phase fission-fusion devices, where in the inner fusion bomb is surrounded by outer hydrogenous material or the more powerful three phase fission-fusion-fission process and device. (572).
A hydrogen bomb has not yet been used in warfare. (572).
It is noted a special type of fission-fusion bomb is the neutron bomb which releases high energy neutrons. The neutron radiation destroys people but provides less shock wave and less property damage.
This could be known as the corporate bomb perhaps?
Oxford Dictionary of Science, (2010), Sixth Edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
