Why does a hydrogen bomb produce significant radioactive fall-out?
The best answer is ……..C. In a ‘hydrogen’ bomb, a primary fission device provides X-rays and neutrons to detonate the lithium six deuteride fuel for the second stage fusion reaction. Also packed into the fusion reaction chamber is a plastic foam and more importantly a plutonium ‘fuse’. The X-rays ‘cook’ the plastic foam into a high pressure plasma and then the neutrons fission the lithium six into tritium, which then fuses with the deuterium liberating 17.6 Mev per fusion reaction. The plutonium fuse provides the necessary extra neutrons through further fission reactions. The radioactive fall out from a hydrogen bomb is, thus, the fission by-products and the neutrons, X-rays and gamma rays liberated during the explosion.
