[dbg31415]

Would assume stolen by Russia or China… espionage to reverse engineer our tech to see if they could find flaws or exploits to reduce its effectiveness, or ideas to improve their own designs.

Makes me feel safer anyway since the bomb would be out of commission.

So these bombs, if found, they aren’t just pull the pin and chuck it to detonate, right? would they even pose a risk of found by a civilian?

[kayodelycaon]

Depending on the age and composition of the bomb, it might not even be a viable weapon anymore. A lot of the early ones had pretty short shelf lives.

[MichaelCollins]

I don't think the basic Pu-239 / U-235 cores themselves degrade, those isotopes have extremely long half lives, but other components of the bombs certainly do.

Particularly, the tritium used in boosted nuclear weapons has a half life of just over 12 years. Furthermore all Pu-239 cores have some Pu-240 contamination that undergoes spontaneous fission, the neutron flux from which probably degrades other components of the bomb over time.

[kayodelycaon]

Early weapons had a lot impurities in their fissionable materials, which significantly reduces shelf life.

[spywaregorilla]

It almost certainly wouldn't work anymore. Plus after the initial batches they started making them tough to accidentally detonate.

[ridgeguy]

I think a 50 year old "lost" bomb would be a radiological hazard at most. Nuclear weapons require upkeep.

After 50 years, only 6% of tritium remains from the initial 100%. Any weapon using tritium (boosted fission bombs and hydrogen bombs) would likely fail to work.

Chemical explosives that initiate nuclear detonation also degrade. Successful weapon function requires an extremely precise initial chemical explosion, not likely to be possible with a 50 year old bomb.

edit - Ninjaed by MichaelCollins

[temp0826]

>> Would assume stolen by Russia or China…

The CIA would be my personal first guess