Nuclear weapon design

English: Nuclear weapon design concerns the internal components of a nuclear weapon which are responsible for their explosive output. Because actual nuclear weapon designs are military secrets, most drawings are somewhat speculative.

Design basics

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  Fission bomb assembly methods
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  Gun-type bomb
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  Gun-type bomb (corrected)
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  Implosion-type bomb
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  Concept of the critical mass

Gun-type bombs

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  Gun-type bomb
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  Gun-type bomb (corrected)
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  Little Boy diagram (with labels)
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  Little Boy diagram (no labels)
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  Little Boy diagram (with labels)
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  Little Boy diagram (no labels)
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  Little Boy diagram

Implosion-type bombs

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  Implosion-type bomb
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  Fat Man diagram (with labels)
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  Gadget cross-section
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  Fat Man diagram
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  Fat Man detonation sequence
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  Model of the first nuclear bomb (Gadget)
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  Implosion weapon cross-section
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  Implosion design — outside plating and detonators
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  Implosion design — explosive lenses
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  Implosion design — pusher exposed
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  Implosion design — tamper exposed
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  Implosion design — core exposed
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  Implosion design — neutron initiator exposed
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  Implosion weapon cross-section showing focusing of shock waves
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  Animations version of the above
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  Exploding-bridgewire detonator patent drawing
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  X-Ray images of shock wave propagation through the explosive lenses

Hydrogen bomb/Teller-Ulam design

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  Basics of the Teller-Ulam design, in 3D
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  Teller-Ulam design cross-section
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  Teller-Ulam design cross-section (English labels)
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  Teller-Ulam firing sequence (English labels)
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  Teller-Ulam firing sequence (alternate) (numeric labels)
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  Advanced Teller-Ulam design (W88 warhead)

Photographs of warheads with some design information

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  B61 bomb components
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  B61 in disassembly
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  B83 bomb components (color)
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  B83 bomb components (b&w)
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  Medium Atomic Demolition Munition (with W54 warhead)
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  Model of the first nuclear bomb (Gadget)
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  Exterior photograph of Trinity test device (Gadget)
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  Exterior photograph of Trinity test device (Gadget)
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  Modern high-explosive lenses
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  Exploding-bridgewire detonators

Weapons-grade fissile materials

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  A billet of highly-enriched uranium
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  A ring with enough weapons-grade plutonium for a modern bomb
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  A "button" of plutonium

Historical documents

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  Nuclear weapons of the United States
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  Cover page of the Nth Country experiment
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  Assembly methods discussed in the Los Alamos Primer
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  Bomb diagram drawn by David Greenglass for the Rosenberg trial
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  Los Alamos Primer as a PDF
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  bunker busters pdf