I understand the technology is difficult. My question is more about how is it that some countries have achieved a nuclear arsenal and other countries are still trying? You’d imagine if the scientists and engineers of one country could manage it, those of another country would eventually get it too. Seems an odd convenience that the most dangerous weapons on earth are prohibitively difficult to make. So few humans are smart enough to make them that only 9 countries have achieved it?
In: Engineering
TLDR: It’s not the technology so much as the difficulty getting the fuel.
The basic technological principles behind a nuclear weapon is well documented and relatively easy to obtain. Working out the specifics is more difficult but not outside the realm of possibility for a team of trained physicists and researchers with enough resources.
The real difficulty of constructing a nuclear weapon is obtaining weapons grade uranium and plutonium.
Naturally mined Uranium cannot be made in a nuclear weapon without enrichment and the enrichment process is both difficult and expensive to undertake. As a smaller nation it would be nearly impossible to conduct such an operation without the outside world taking notice and acting to stop you.
Latest Answers