Allemande
02-07-2005, 22:09
OOC: This continues a story thread that began with "Allemande to Commence Peaceful Fission Research (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=404518)" and continued with "A Rose By Any Other Name... (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=407084)", culminating in "Allemande Detonates 'Non-Military' Nuclear Device (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=408160)".
<NEWSFEED>
Source: Allemande Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) World Service
Dateline: July 2nd, 2005
In a surprise announcement, Jon Cartier, Allemande's Secretary of Energy, revealed that the United States of Allemande will test a thermonuclear device within the next week.
"We have come to the conclusion that there are peaceful uses for a nuclear device with a yield above what we can produce with boosted nuclear fission alone."
Currently, Allemande possesses "non-military nuclear devices" that employ either nuclear fission (in which a mass of fissionable material is brought to criticality) or boosted nuclear fission (in which the efficiency of the weapon is improved by enhancing its natural neutron flux). Such weapons range in size from 1HT (1 hectoton, or the equivalent of 100 tonnes of TNT) to 150KT (150 kilotons, the equivalent of 150,000 tonnes of TNT). To arrive at higher yields, nuclear fusion (in which lighter elements are fused into heavier ones) must be employed.
There is no theoretical limit on the power of such a device; in nature, nuclear fusion is the energy source that ignites suns throughout the universe.
Secretary Cartier, responding to questions, declined to specify the explosive yield that Allemande was seeking to achieve with these new devices, merely suggesting that "greater yields with more efficient rates of mass conversion" were "needed". When pressed, he refused to specify the nature of this "need", but did suggest that it would not be long before this need became apparent.
<ANALYSIS>
Allemande's "peaceful" nuclear devices have long been a source of controversy. There is no indication that any of these devices have ever been deployed in a military capacity, although military personnel have sometimes been involved in their use. To date, virtually every "shot" has been conducted hundreds of metres beneath the Pacific Ocean bottom. Many of these have been test shots, but some have been excavations, aimed at gaining access to precious minerals embedded in the strata beneath the ocean bottom.
Experts have openly speculated about other possible uses for these devices. Allemande's fast breeder reactor capacity has been expanded far beyond what would be needed merely to provide a few submarine explosives, and efforts have been made to drive production costs to a minimum. Since there is no indication that the country is exporting plutonium (unlike reactor-grade uranium, which it does export in considerable quantities), the government must be stockpiling large amounts of the substance.
It is also known that Allemande has begun using oxynitrocubane (ONC) as an explosive in its most recent generation of devices. Oxynitrocubane is 30%-50% more efficient that high-grade military-grade plastic explosives, and this has allowed Allemande to significantly reduce the size and mass of its nuclear devices. Other unconfirmed measures have further reduced the size of these charges, making Allemande a world leader in the production of very small nuclear devices.
These efforts are consistent with Allemande's known use of nuclear devices for demolition and excavation; smaller yields and more efficient devices make deployment easier, especially deep beneath the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Thus, Allemande's announcement that it will test a fusion device comes as a surprise. Fusion technology does not seem to fit well within the country's current pattern of use, leading some to wonder whether the government is trying to get as close to having a nuclear deterrent without deploying one.
It is clear that Allemande could deploy a nuclear deterrent in a couple of years, and maybe even a matter of months, were it to desire to do so. Its Mars medium-lift launch vehicle, designed to launch probes beyond the confines of the Earth-Moon system, could clearly function as an ICBM; it is rumoured that the military has tested a MIRV bus (believed to be code-named Nemesis) for use in conjunction with this rocket, during the recent Mars-Nemesis missions. It would not be difficult to modify any of Allemande's "peaceful" fission devices for use in conjunction with this launcher.
In similar fashion, Allemande has deployed both air-launched and sea-launched cruise missiles (in military parlance, ALCM's and SLCM's) among its conventional forces. These - along with gravity bombs - would be easy to fit with nuclear warheads on short notice.
A submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) would be much more difficult. Allemande's standard satellite launcher - Minerva - is too big for submarine use. Nor is there any indication that Allemande is attempting to build such a missile.
Yet even without such a weapon, Allemande could still deploy a credible deterrent quickly. Is the effort to detonate a thermonuclear weapon part of a move to "go nuclear"? Government officials deny this, and yet the lack of any clear indication of the intended "peaceful" use of such weapons only fuels such speculation.
</ANALYSIS>
</NEWSFEED>
<NEWSFEED>
Source: Allemande Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) World Service
Dateline: July 2nd, 2005
In a surprise announcement, Jon Cartier, Allemande's Secretary of Energy, revealed that the United States of Allemande will test a thermonuclear device within the next week.
"We have come to the conclusion that there are peaceful uses for a nuclear device with a yield above what we can produce with boosted nuclear fission alone."
Currently, Allemande possesses "non-military nuclear devices" that employ either nuclear fission (in which a mass of fissionable material is brought to criticality) or boosted nuclear fission (in which the efficiency of the weapon is improved by enhancing its natural neutron flux). Such weapons range in size from 1HT (1 hectoton, or the equivalent of 100 tonnes of TNT) to 150KT (150 kilotons, the equivalent of 150,000 tonnes of TNT). To arrive at higher yields, nuclear fusion (in which lighter elements are fused into heavier ones) must be employed.
There is no theoretical limit on the power of such a device; in nature, nuclear fusion is the energy source that ignites suns throughout the universe.
Secretary Cartier, responding to questions, declined to specify the explosive yield that Allemande was seeking to achieve with these new devices, merely suggesting that "greater yields with more efficient rates of mass conversion" were "needed". When pressed, he refused to specify the nature of this "need", but did suggest that it would not be long before this need became apparent.
<ANALYSIS>
Allemande's "peaceful" nuclear devices have long been a source of controversy. There is no indication that any of these devices have ever been deployed in a military capacity, although military personnel have sometimes been involved in their use. To date, virtually every "shot" has been conducted hundreds of metres beneath the Pacific Ocean bottom. Many of these have been test shots, but some have been excavations, aimed at gaining access to precious minerals embedded in the strata beneath the ocean bottom.
Experts have openly speculated about other possible uses for these devices. Allemande's fast breeder reactor capacity has been expanded far beyond what would be needed merely to provide a few submarine explosives, and efforts have been made to drive production costs to a minimum. Since there is no indication that the country is exporting plutonium (unlike reactor-grade uranium, which it does export in considerable quantities), the government must be stockpiling large amounts of the substance.
It is also known that Allemande has begun using oxynitrocubane (ONC) as an explosive in its most recent generation of devices. Oxynitrocubane is 30%-50% more efficient that high-grade military-grade plastic explosives, and this has allowed Allemande to significantly reduce the size and mass of its nuclear devices. Other unconfirmed measures have further reduced the size of these charges, making Allemande a world leader in the production of very small nuclear devices.
These efforts are consistent with Allemande's known use of nuclear devices for demolition and excavation; smaller yields and more efficient devices make deployment easier, especially deep beneath the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Thus, Allemande's announcement that it will test a fusion device comes as a surprise. Fusion technology does not seem to fit well within the country's current pattern of use, leading some to wonder whether the government is trying to get as close to having a nuclear deterrent without deploying one.
It is clear that Allemande could deploy a nuclear deterrent in a couple of years, and maybe even a matter of months, were it to desire to do so. Its Mars medium-lift launch vehicle, designed to launch probes beyond the confines of the Earth-Moon system, could clearly function as an ICBM; it is rumoured that the military has tested a MIRV bus (believed to be code-named Nemesis) for use in conjunction with this rocket, during the recent Mars-Nemesis missions. It would not be difficult to modify any of Allemande's "peaceful" fission devices for use in conjunction with this launcher.
In similar fashion, Allemande has deployed both air-launched and sea-launched cruise missiles (in military parlance, ALCM's and SLCM's) among its conventional forces. These - along with gravity bombs - would be easy to fit with nuclear warheads on short notice.
A submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) would be much more difficult. Allemande's standard satellite launcher - Minerva - is too big for submarine use. Nor is there any indication that Allemande is attempting to build such a missile.
Yet even without such a weapon, Allemande could still deploy a credible deterrent quickly. Is the effort to detonate a thermonuclear weapon part of a move to "go nuclear"? Government officials deny this, and yet the lack of any clear indication of the intended "peaceful" use of such weapons only fuels such speculation.
</ANALYSIS>
</NEWSFEED>