From: kludge@panix.com   
      
   Lynn McGuire   wrote:   
   >I am horribly wondering if the tritium in Russia's ICBMs is still good.   
   >Russia has not tested a nuclear weapon since 1990.  I would very much   
   >not like seeing them testing a few of them on Berlin.   
      
   I think in the US they add tritium every 12 years to keep the jacket   
   concentraion right.  But if you don't do this and the helium jacket   
   fails entirely, worst case you wind up with a mere fission bomb with   
   only tens or hundreds of kilotons blast rather than the rated tens of   
   megatons the data sheet says you're supposed to get from a fusion bomb.   
      
   But the thing is... in the end.... tens or hundreds of kilotons is still   
   one hell of a big bomb.   
      
   I might be more worried about the things being stored for too long with   
   the cores in place.  You're supposed to remove the radioactive stuff for   
   long-term storage so the steel and aluminum doesn't decay from the   
   radiation.   
   --scott   
   --   
   "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)