How to Calculate Effects of Tactical Low-Yield Enhanced-Radiation and Fission Warheads

摘要

In the last five years, a flood of literature, both in the US and abroad, has pointed out the pros and cons of effects from enhanced-radiation (ER) and fission warheads. While these publications often focus on numerical differences that can be quite large, they seldom tell the reader how the numerical values were obtained. In this report, we assume pure-fusion, 50/50 fusion/fission, and pure-fission tactical weapons in yields from 0.5 to 10 kt. These assumptions make verification possible for all numerical values for the source as well as effects vs ground range. The effects considered are radiation, blast, and thermal. Several illustrations are presented in which we used various units to make the data more useful to the nontechnical reader. In the literature, the main emphasis for ER tactical weapons has been the disabling effects on tank crews. The initial radiation dose rate inside the tank as well as that received by the crew from induced neutron activation inside the tank is numerically evaluated. Soil-activation differences between fusion and fission weapons are mentioned. (ERA citation 08:010581)