nuclear-news

The entanglement of fusion energy research and bombs

By Arjun Makhijani | November 12, 2024

The recent achievement of fusion ignition—meaning more
energy came out of a self-sustaining fusion reaction than was put in—at
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF)
has brought to the fore long-simmering questions about whether certain
experiments violate the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on nuclear
explosions.

Fusion research for peaceful use and military use are highly
intertwined, despite attempts to cloak nuclear weapons with the aura of the
so-called “peaceful atom.” Ignition has been achieved, but there is
still a remarkable silence around whether pure fusion weapons—weapons
that could kill large numbers of humans with neutron radiation but have
blast effects much smaller than current thermonuclear weapons—are an
objective of the overall program.

Even if not an explicit objective, would they be built if fusion technology makes them feasible? Research and experiments into weapons-related nuclear fusion and commercial energy fusion are highly entangled, and have been notably so since the 1950s,
after the Soviets conducted their “layer cake” nuclear test with a
fusion component in 1953, and the US did its 15-megaton Bravo test in
1954—a test of a thermonuclear weapon.

To improve the terrible public
relations image that those tests cast over the world, the Eisenhower
administration came up with a carefully orchestrated propaganda campaign
for nuclear power, with the tag line “atoms for peace.” That is
happening again after the recent achievement of ignition at the National
Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, with the
difference that the world does not even know whether pure fusion weapons
are on the agenda.

 Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 11th Nov 2024,
https://thebulletin.org/premium/2024-11/the-entanglement-of-fusion-energy-research-and-bombs/

November 26, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, weapons and war