"How do you make a "dial the yield" nuke?" Topic

I have read that certain nukes can vary the yield desired, with a "simple" adjustment.
How is that done?
Why would you want to? Come on. You're dropping a nuke!

Tritium or deuterium injection is the one I know of (gas is injected just prior to detonation, giving a neutron boost, increasing yield), but I'm sure there are other methods too. Also some nukes which incorporate a thermonuclear secondary can be adjusted so that hopefully only the primary goes off. As for why, I'd imagine if you have deluded hopes of preventing escalation, you might think a small nuke is better than a big one….

No one wins a nuclear war. (Except maybe the cockroaches.)

JJ laid out some good arguments for why. It gives the owner a higher degree of tactical flexibility and lowers ownership costs. Instead of having say 100 15 kt nukes, 75 50 kt nukes, and 20 150 kt nukes in your arsenal you could go with a "dial a "Yield" system for 100 150 kt nukes that are adjustable from 15 to 150 kt.

Another possible way of adjusting yield could be in the detonation sequencing and timing on implosion based devices. Optimal timing gives maximum yield where different sequencing delays ca lower the yield accordingly.

On early weapon designs, we'd change the sequencing and composition of the enriched and depleted uranium rings.

pjm

<No one wins a nuclear war. (Except maybe the cockroaches.)>
Or the Twinkies.