Eli5: Why is it so hard for a country to make a nuclear bomb?

Question

I’m assuming the science of making one is out there. Why then countries like Iran who so want to develop atomic weapons haven’t been able to do so?

In: Physics

Answer 1

There was an experiment conducted in 1967 called the Nth country experiment that showed that anybody can design a nuclear bomb using only publicly available information. The experiment hired 3 physicists with no prior knowledge of nuclear physics and asked them to build a bomb using only declassified information. In just 2 and half years they had designed a functional bomb.

You can read more about it here: [Nth country experiment ](https://www.amusingplanet.com/2023/03/the-1967-experiment-that-proved-anyone.html?m=1)