Bombshell How North Korea developed firepower now 1,000 times more powerful
The apparent success of North Korea in exploding a hydrogen bomb means the firepower at its disposal is 1,000 times greater than previously thought.
The process hydrogen bombs use is so intense, it is ultimately the same as that which is used to power stars such as the Sun – fusion. Atomic bombs, which were previously tested by Pyongyang, use a process called fission, which is the splitting of atoms such as uranium and plutonium into smaller ones.
Quickly squashing these atoms very close together will create an incredible blast of energy, causing catastrophic and widespread damage. This technology was used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, producing power equivalent to 15-20 kilotons of TNT.
Hydrogen bombs “fuse” together atoms, which creates even more energy than nuclear fission.
But in order to trigger the fusion, huge amounts of energy are needed, and so inside an H-bomb would also be an atomic bomb.
This two-stage process is often referred to as a “thermonuclear” reaction, a favourite phrase of North Korean media and now – apparently – a devastating process under the control of Kim Jong-un, Pyongyang’s young, unpredictable leader. The first hydrogen bomb to be tested by the US in 1952 released the equivalent energy of 10,000 kilotons.
The former USSR carried out the first successful test of its thermonuclear bomb in November 1955. The most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated was a hydrogen bomb called the Tsar Bomba, which had the equivalent force of 3,800 Hiroshima bombs. It was detonated by the Soviet Union over the arctic island of Novaya Zemlya in 1961, but it was so destructive no equivalent was ever built again.
Aside from North Korea, the United States, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan and Israel all have nuclear weapons.
Of those, the US, Britain, France, Russia (as the USSR) and China are the only ones known to have tested hydrogen bombs.
Most of the nuclear weapons in the US nuclear arsenal are thermonuclear devices. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the US has 450 land-based missiles spread across three Air Force bases and hundreds of underground silos. The US president has the power to independently order their launch for any reason and at any time.