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A single bomb core is a sub-critical mass; needing either neutron reflectors or another source of neutrons to start a chain reaction.

But if you pile a bunch of such cores up together like they were cannon balls, that inherent safety goes right out the window.




In the context of this blog post, which explosive parts should we mothball and which ones are too dangerous to store intact, it’s unwise to store pre-boosted plutonium cores at all.

But, as a thought experiment, what is the difference between a pile of boosted-era plutonium cores; and a weird but moderated reactor? Specifically, does an arbitrarily-sized pile of weapons-grade plutonium marbles have the same inevitability of criticality you expect than if those are designed for use in boosted triggers?




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