OK, North Korea detonated a nuclear weapon on September 3. That seems to be a general consensus.
North Korea claims that this was a hydrogen bomb. It has made the same claim for a previous detonation, on January 6, 2016. However, the latter claim is usually dismissed because the yield of that weapon was 'only' 7-16 kilotons of TNT.
The most recent explosion has been variously estimated to be between 60 and 120 kilotons of TNT.
This makes me doubt that North Korea yet has a hydrogen bomb. The reason? Hydrogen bombs tend to have *much* larger yields (at least when first developed) around 2-3 megatons (i.e, 2000-3000 kilotons). They *can* be lower in yield, but yields of the size we see from this last North Korean explosion tend to be 'ordinary' atomic bombs that have been optimized for yield. The largest hydrogen bomb ever was 58 megatons, with 'standard' ones for the US nuclear stockpile around 2 megatons per warhead.
So, does it matter whether or not this most recent explosion was actually a hydrogen bomb? Would it change the calculation of what we need to do about it?
North Korea claims that this was a hydrogen bomb. It has made the same claim for a previous detonation, on January 6, 2016. However, the latter claim is usually dismissed because the yield of that weapon was 'only' 7-16 kilotons of TNT.
The most recent explosion has been variously estimated to be between 60 and 120 kilotons of TNT.
This makes me doubt that North Korea yet has a hydrogen bomb. The reason? Hydrogen bombs tend to have *much* larger yields (at least when first developed) around 2-3 megatons (i.e, 2000-3000 kilotons). They *can* be lower in yield, but yields of the size we see from this last North Korean explosion tend to be 'ordinary' atomic bombs that have been optimized for yield. The largest hydrogen bomb ever was 58 megatons, with 'standard' ones for the US nuclear stockpile around 2 megatons per warhead.
So, does it matter whether or not this most recent explosion was actually a hydrogen bomb? Would it change the calculation of what we need to do about it?
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