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Originally posted by scottishinnz
This line is a little worrying

"The bomb is one of [b]eleven known missing nuclear weapons from the U.S. nuclear arsenal."

(my emphasis)[/b]
Anybody know offhand how heavy the smallest explosive nuclear weapon would be? Expolsive as opposed to radioactice dust to be scattered by a conventional explosive device.

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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/russia/

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Originally posted by Delmer
Anybody know offhand how heavy the smallest explosive nuclear weapon would be? Expolsive as opposed to radioactice dust to be scattered by a conventional explosive device.
80 - 100 lbs?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/russia/

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Originally posted by sword4damocles
80 - 100 lbs?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/russia/
Well, that pretty well removes me from any list of suspects.

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Originally posted by Delmer
Anybody know offhand how heavy the smallest explosive nuclear weapon would be? Expolsive as opposed to radioactice dust to be scattered by a conventional explosive device.
hard to say. estimates for critical mass are around 15 kg for uranium-235, and 10 kg for plutonium-239. the only other major indespensible component for a suicide-type bombing would be the mechanism the initiate the reaction, which i'd be surprised if it exceeds 10-15kg. you wouldn't need heavy amounts of shielding, nor strongly engineered components in that scenario, so they would cut out a lot of weight

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Originally posted by sasquatch672
No. A suitcase bomb would weigh about 700 lbs.
any idea on why?

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Originally posted by sasquatch672
No. A suitcase bomb would weigh about 700 lbs.
Read the article in the link on Atomic Suitcase Bombs, its says 80 - 100 lbs

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/russia/

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2 edits
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Wikipedia says 51 lbs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suitcase_nuke

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Originally posted by sasquatch672
No. A suitcase bomb would weigh about 700 lbs.
err. no. the US version weighs 23 kg, and they even have an atomic artillery shell that weighs around 23 kg too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suitcase_bomb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W54

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Originally posted by xcomradex
err. no. the US version weighs 23 kg, and they even have an atomic artillery shell that weighs around 23 kg too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suitcase_bomb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W54
So why did you say 700 lbs?

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Originally posted by sword4damocles
So why did you say 700 lbs?
me?

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Originally posted by sasquatch672
No. A suitcase bomb would weigh about 700 lbs.
yes.