Sciencemadness Discussion Board

First nuclear weapon design

chemoleo - 19-9-2008 at 18:01

Here's the Penny report, released initially to the public domain due to the Public Records Act (UK), with a presumably very outdated design of a Pu nuclear device.
http://file.sunshinepress.org:54445/penney-report.pdf
Must say, who knows if this contains truly useful information. I should think the authorities would introduce subtle falsities to prevent successful implementations of the design, I mean they'd be foolish not to.

Unsurprisingly, public discussion of that material then generated second thoughts, and a very keen but clearly uninformed UK government official attempts to censor material already in the public domain - check the email conversations in 'Notes' in the following link.
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/First_atomic_bomb_diagram

Wikileaks seems altogether an interesting site!

pantone159 - 19-9-2008 at 19:32

Interesting to see the detailed discussion of the initiator. I thought that was one of the most sensitive parts of the design.

Magpie - 19-9-2008 at 21:22

Chemoleo this is a very interesting report of the high level British meeting for deciding how to manufacture. It seems strange to me that so many details had yet to be worked out. I would have guessed that they would instead have had posession of detailed drawings and procedures from the US. Maybe they had a case of "not invented here" and wanted to come up with their own designs and procedures.

I also found the exchange of letters with Wiki to be very interesting. Especially the part about "this is urgent and we'll get right back to you, but first we have to take Easter vacation." :D

[Edited on 19-9-2008 by Magpie]

franklyn - 20-9-2008 at 11:46

That's a nice find but this was old news even when it was news.
It is not a blueprint really but rather a sketch, a preliminary outline
on what progress had been made, and a proposal on how to proceed
with reearch and further development.
LA-1 , the " Los Alamos Primer " as it came to be known, drafted
in 1943 and distributed to the war time allies, Britain and yes the
Russians also ( imagine that ) was the source for the subsequent
work done depicted in this Penny report.

Los Alamos Primer LA-1
Available from any of the following
http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/docs1/00349710.pdf
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Los_Alamo...
http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/publications/LANLSerbe...
It's even available in the Sci Mad Los Alamos library
http://www.sciencemadness.org/lanl1_a/lib-www/la-pubs/003497...

further historical archived documents
http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/library.htm


The reason for continued censoring of information which is no longer
unknown, certainlty to physicists, is to reduce the number of credible
bomb threats when a design is given as proof of an existing device.
Sort of like sending a false fire alarm, this plus a little plutonium just
for show, will distress governments and and make intelligence agencies
worry and wonder.

See
The Curve of Binding Energy - John Mcphee
and once dismissed as an alarmist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_B._Taylor

.

chemoleo - 20-9-2008 at 18:15

Very interesting, franklyn. Particularly this document (Los Alamos primer)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Los_Alamo...

Fascinating to see the calculations on how critical mass is calculated, and even the basis, need and identity of the tamper, as well as the equations for that...
Had no idea this is all publicly available, but then, the derivations don't seem tooo hard, so probably any physicist should be able to work some of it out.

franklyn - 22-12-2010 at 07:03

Some background on the development of implosion bombs
http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/sciences/chemistry/nucle...

Related thread
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=11569

.

IrC - 13-1-2011 at 04:27

Quote: Originally posted by chemoleo  
Here's the Penny report, released initially to the public domain due to the Public Records Act (UK), with a presumably very outdated design of a Pu nuclear device.
http://file.sunshinepress.org:54445/penney-report.pdf
Must say, who knows if this contains truly useful information. I should think the authorities would introduce subtle falsities to prevent successful implementations of the design, I mean they'd be foolish not to.

Unsurprisingly, public discussion of that material then generated second thoughts, and a very keen but clearly uninformed UK government official attempts to censor material already in the public domain - check the email conversations in 'Notes' in the following link.
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/First_atomic_bomb_diagram

Wikileaks seems altogether an interesting site!


Never seen this thread before, I would like to read the PDF but the link is broken.

mr.crow - 13-1-2011 at 17:43

Quote: Originally posted by chemoleo  

Wikileaks seems altogether an interesting site!


This post is from 2008, haha

The atomic bomb link doesn't work anymore :( Now I am curious

IrC - 13-1-2011 at 20:41

I would be happy just to get the PDF here (not):

http://file.sunshinepress.org:54445/penney-report.pdf

franklyn - 13-1-2011 at 23:09

I checked if I have this to upload, I don't so looked it up
Google is your friend : "Penny Report" weapon
gets you
http://old.wikileaks.se/penney-report.pdf

.

IrC - 13-1-2011 at 23:55

Thanks, just was interested in what they did way back when. Did not search real hard, skipped links mentioning wiki leaks as first two were same err 404 or similar, so I missed it by ignoring "old" wiki leaks. Interesting read.

peach - 14-1-2011 at 13:26

These early nuclear secrets where traded with the US for the synthesis of VX nerve agent. The series was discovered by ICI (The chemical company who own Delux) and VX was produced at the Porton Down millitary science park in Wiltshire.

The US stockpile was cancelled, loaded onto ships, and 124 tons of it sunk.

This process was called CHASE, "cut holes and sink'em".

Keep these events in mind when listening to today's politics.

[Edited on 14-1-2011 by peach]

Me the Analogue guy again

The WiZard is In - 14-1-2011 at 14:48

I recommend —

Chuck Hanson
U.S. Nuclear Weapons : The Secret History
Orion Books
New York 1988

And of course Richard Rhodes two books. (In my
opinion the first is the better of the two.)

IrC - 14-1-2011 at 15:01

The US stockpile was cancelled, loaded onto ships, and 124 tons of it sunk.


Think I'll stop eating fish.


[Edited on 1-15-2011 by IrC]

chemoleo - 14-1-2011 at 19:33

I guess the lesson here is:

Don't trust the eternity of the internet!

If you think something is worth saving - SAVE it - or it may disappear.
Laws change, 'freedom of speech' changes, governments change, politics change and, by consequence - censorship implementations change!

I for one would save anything that's interesting...our age of information freedom, while we all love it, may not last forever!

(no political rant intended)

IrC - 15-1-2011 at 22:57

Every time I think of all the rich fat pigs making slaves burn the scrolls in the library of Alexandria to heat their baths a few thousand years ago I get depressed.

Polverone - 16-1-2011 at 11:54

Quote: Originally posted by The WiZard is In  
I recommend —

Chuck Hanson
U.S. Nuclear Weapons : The Secret History
Orion Books
New York 1988


This is on Madhatter's FTP site in DjVu format. I don't know if it is floating around parts of the internet indexed by search engines.

IrC - 16-1-2011 at 14:35

Would be interesting to read but my old log in for Madhatter's FTP site does not work and he never answered my U2U about a new one a few weeks ago. Had not been there in a long time.

Penney Report

MadHatter - 20-1-2011 at 05:25

Now in the PHYSICS section of the FTP. Enjoy !

Chemoleo, BTW, I agree with saving a copy. You never know when it's going to disappear.
As such, I regularly save anything I find, and if it's small enough, place it's contents in a post.

Great Call !


[Edited on 2011/1/20 by MadHatter]