• 11111one11111@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    All politics aside what would they strike when they say nuclear facilities? Idk shit about the physics of a nuclear bomb so I ask how would they know they aren’t igniting a nuclear bomb in these strikes? Are they just bombing everything around the missile silos?

    • Zron@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Nuclear bombs are pretty precise affairs.

      Even the relatively simple “gun type” fission bombs require a precisely sized core of nuclear material to be encased in a neutron reflector to get an explosion instead of just a ball of hot uranium.

      An implosion type bombs is more powerful but requires conventional explosives to be set off in a sphere around the core at exactly the right time, this compresses the sphere, increasing reactivity, and making it explode.

      If the shape or timing is wrong, you just get a nuclear meltdown, not an explosion.

      So bombing a nuclear bomb isn’t likely to set it off, it’s only likely to make the area it’s stored in uninhabitable for a few thousand years.

      Either way, not a very good idea. Also, pretty sure bombing any kind of nuclear facility is considered a war crime, as it will horribly wound or kill way more civilians than anything else.