![]() The Mk-41 or B41 had a mass of 4800 kg and yield of 25 Mt this equates to being the highest yield-to-weight weapon ever produced. ![]() Most powerful US weapons ever: 25 megatonnes of TNT (100 PJ) the Mk-17 was also the largest by area square footage and mass cubic footage: about 20 short tons (18,000 kg). The W53 warhead from the weapon was used on the Titan II Missile until the system was decommissioned in 1987. The Mod 11 variant of the B61 replaced the B53 in the bunker busting role. 50 were retained as part of the "Hedge" portion of the Enduring Stockpile until completely dismantled in 2011. Was the most powerful US bomb in active service until 1997. Variable yield weapon, most powerful US weapon in active service. ![]() Most powerful tested UK boosted fission missile warhead. Most powerful US pure fission bomb, 60 kg uranium, implosion type. Twelve of these may be in a Trident II missile treaty limited to eight. Ten of these were in a MIRVed LGM-118A Peacekeeper. Twelve of these may be in a MIRVed Trident II missile treaty limited to eight. Implosion type plutonium-239 fission bomb (the second of the two nuclear weapons used in warfare).Ħ.2 kg of Plutonium-239, about 1 kg fissioned Gun type uranium-235 fission bomb (the first of the two nuclear weapons that have been used in warfare).Ħ4 kg of Uranium-235, about 1.38% of the uranium fissioned ![]() Total weight of nuclear material and bomb was 98.8 - 100.2 kg Variable yield tactical nuclear weapon-mass only 23 kg (51 lb), lightest ever deployed by the United States (same warhead as Special Atomic Demolition Munition and GAR-11 Nuclear Falcon missile).Īn unguided air-to-air rocket armed with a W25 nuclear warhead developed to intercept bomber squadrons. In order of increasing yield (most yield figures are approximate): Since then, the smaller warheads needed to achieve the increased net damage efficiency (bomb damage/bomb mass) of multiple warhead systems have resulted in increases in the yield/mass ratio for single modern warheads.Įxamples of nuclear weapon yields Yields of 5.2 megatons/ton and higher have been reported for large weapons constructed for single-warhead use in the early 1960s. The practical maximum yield-to-weight ratio for fusion weapons ( thermonuclear weapons) has been estimated to six megatons of TNT per metric ton of bomb mass (25 TJ/kg). The yield-to-weight ratio is the amount of weapon yield compared to the mass of the weapon. Because the accuracy of any measurement of the energy released by TNT has always been problematic, the conventional definition is that one kiloton of TNT is held simply to be equivalent to 10 12 calories. An explosive yield of one terajoule is equal to 0.239 kilotonnes of TNT. The explosive yield of a nuclear weapon is the amount of energy released when that particular nuclear weapon is detonated, usually expressed as a TNT equivalent (the standardized equivalent mass of trinitrotoluene which, if detonated, would produce the same energy discharge), either in kilotons (kt-thousands of tons of TNT), in megatons (Mt-millions of tons of TNT), or sometimes in terajoules (TJ). This effect extends the cycle length for such fuels to sometimes nearly twice what it would be otherwise.Log–log plot comparing the yield (in kilotons) and mass (in kilograms) of various nuclear weapons developed by the United States. This corresponds to a breeding ratio for this fuel burnup of about 0.4 to 0.5. For example, at a burnup of 40GWd/tU, about 40% of the total energy released comes from bred plutonium. This is how 238U contributes to the operation of nuclear reactors and the production of electricity through this plutonium. Radiative capture of a neutron leads to the formation of fissile 239Pu. 238U cannot sustain a nuclear fission chain reaction because too many neutrons produced by the fission of 238U have lower energies than the original neutron.Ģ38U also belongs to the group of fertile isotopes. 238U does not also meet the alternative requirement to fissile materials. On the other hand, 238U can be fissioned by fast neutron with energy higher than >1MeV. 238U is not capable of undergoing a fission reaction after absorbing a thermal neutron. 238U occasionally decays by spontaneous fission with the probability of 0.000055%.Ģ38U is a fissionable isotope but is not a fissile isotope. 238U decays via alpha decay (by way of thorium 234 and protactinium 234) into 234U. For its very long half-life, it is still present in the Earth’s crust. Uranium 238 is a fissionable isotope but is not a fissile isotope.Ģ38U belongs to primordial nuclides because its half-life is comparable to the age of the Earth (~4.5×10 9 years). Uranium 238 has the longest half-life (4.47×10 9 years), and therefore its abundance is so high. Uranium 238, which alone constitutes 99.28% of natural uranium, is the most common isotope of uranium in nature.
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