Bunker-busters set to go nuclear

摘要

The US government is set to fund research into a new type of nuclear weapon that's designed to penetrate and obliterate deeply buried targets such as underground weapons bunkers. Coming 50 years after the world's first hydrogen bomb was detonated in the Pacific, the news has alarmed scientists opposed to nuclear proliferation. They say the thousands of tonnes of radioactive debris produced by a bunker-busting nuclear weapon would not be contained within the rock, concrete and soil above the target, but would contaminate a wide area around it. Funding of $15 million has been proposed for research into the so-called Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP), as part of the government's draft Defense Authorisation Bill for 2003. But the bill has not yet been passed by the Senate Committee on Armed Services, which as New Scientist went to press was controlled by the Democrats. While a decision has been delayed until after this week's Congressional elections, a source close to the committee says the RNEP will get the green light.