North Korea Nuke Test Result = Failure

The atom bomb test executed by North Korea last October has been judged a failure. Some fission occurred, but the explosion was not what it should have been. It was large none the less. The fault is probably due to a faulty design aquired from Pakistan.

North Korean Fizzle Bomb

March 30, 2007: The U.S. CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) has concluded that last Octobers nuclear weapons test in North Korea was a failure. This came after analysis of air samples, seismic (using earthquake detectors) and spy satellite data. There was a nuclear explosion, of about one kiloton, but it was the result of a improperly constructed nuclear weapon. Sort of a very low grade nuclear weapon that vaporized, rather than detonated, most of its nuclear material. This sort of explosion is called a "fizzle" and was last seen in 1998, when a Pakistani nuclear weapons test produced a very similar result. What's interesting about this is that a group of Pakistani nuclear scientists (the Kahn group) were secretly peddling nuclear weapons technology during the 1990s. This was done for private gain, and one of the Khan groups customers was North Korea. So it may be that the North Koreans used a Pakistani weapons design that was not quite there yet.

Don't worry, the North Koreans will figure it out and get their bomb and no one will do anything to stop them.