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Although I've covered quite a few nuclear 
technologies over past few years there is one

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which I haven't touched upon but he's regarded as 
one of the most insidious forms of nuclear weapon,

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One which was parodied by the mad magazine with 
the slogan “save buildings, not lives” and on the

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one hand was called the cleanest nuclear device 
whilst also being seen as the most inhumane

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nuclear devices, Namely the neutron bomb.
When it's proposed deployment was leaked in

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June 1977 by Walter Pincus of the Washington 
Post, it created a worldwide outcry that the

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American Carter administration we're about to 
deploy them without a major public announcement.

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So, what is a neutron bomb and why did it cause 
so much controversy at the time, when despite

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the talk by the military that it was a much 
needed weapon, was it never actually deployed,

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and by 2003 all US stocks had been destroyed.
Well firstly the neutron bomb is still just a

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form of nuclear weapon but to be given its correct 
title it's an enhanced radiation weapon or an ERW.

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It was created in the 1950s by one of 
the members of the Manhattan Project,

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Samuel T Cohen after visiting the Korean War and 
seeing the similarity between Soeul and Tokyo. He

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had also seen the devastation created by the 
bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and

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in his mind he decided to create what he called 
“the most sane and moral weapon ever devised”.

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A weapon that would avoid the total devastation 
and long lasting effects of radiation that

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the atomic bomb had shown and yet it would 
still provide the ultimate purpose of war,

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to kill enemy soldiers in the field.
In 1958 Cohen had been investigating a low yield

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“clean” nuclear weapon, one which would create 
a large burst of radiation but without creating

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the large amount of long lasting radioactive 
fallout as seen in conventional atomic bombs.

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He discovered that the bomb case thickness made 
a major difference to the amount of radioactive

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fallout that would be occur. This was because the 
case of a nuclear weapon which was often made from

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depleted uranium and was used to reflect neutrons 
from the nuclear reaction back into the bombs

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core and increase its reactivity many times, was 
also the source of most of radioactive fallout.

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He figured that if you used a thinner 
case material, most of the high energy

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neutrons would escape. This would create a much 
lower yield with less destructive capability,

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but it would release 10 to 15 times more neutron 
output compared to a conventional nuclear weapon.

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Neutron bombs were unique in that the neutron 
radiation would extend beyond the blast radius

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of the weapon, even the biggest bomb, the 
50 megaton Tsar Bomba had a neutron range

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that was smaller than its blast radius.
He calculated that one kiloton bomb could

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release more lethal prompt neutron radiation, 
than a much larger conventional none ERW device .

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He justified the use of radiation to kill 
soldiers because it would have a relatively small

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blast radius that would do less damage to the 
surrounding infrastructure as being more humane

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than using many conventional weapons, such as 
thermobaric bombs, napalm and cluster munitions.

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Although he was convinced in his ideas 
that this would be an ideal and manageable

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nuclear weapon that could be used as 
a tactical device on the battlefield,

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six presidents came and went before he could 
convince president Jimmy Carter that this would be

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a weapon that could counter the overwhelming tank 
superiority of the Soviet Union, which in the mid

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1970s was deemed to be upto a 4 to 1 advantage 
compared to NATO in the European theatre.

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The problem which NATO had in the 1960s 
and 70s was the Soviet Union had created

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a huge conventional army with many 
more tanks and armoured vehicles.

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The fear was that a Soviet attack would send in 
huge amounts of tanks into West Germany in tight

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formations making them much more difficult 
to counter then if they were spread out.

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Cohen convinced Carter that this small ERW could 
be used to intimidate Soviet Union into widening

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their tank attacks and thus making them more 
vulnerable to conventional weapons like NATO

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tanks which were seen as superior and anti tank 
missiles which NATO had hundreds of thousands of.

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If that didn't work and the conflict was going 
against NATO, these weapons could be used on with

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less blast damage and residual fallout then 
a conventional nuclear device and that they

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will be small enough but they might not trigger a 
full scale nuclear retaliation from the Soviets.

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The idea was that they will be detonated above 
the massed ranks of Soviet armour and that intense

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burst of neutron radiation would produce an almost 
instant incapacitation of the crews inside any

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unprepared armoured vehicles and troops on 
the ground within about 1 kilometre range.

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This was seen as a deterrent that would minimise 
civilian casualties as it would be restricted to

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military targets and kept away from civilian areas
But of course this was still a nuclear device,

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and although it was much smaller than the one 
dropped on Hiroshima, one kiloton compared to

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15 kilotons, it's still produced a blast radius 
of about 500 metres, and because it had much less

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radioactive fallout, Cohen said that it was a 
“clean” weapon that would leave the area it had

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been detonated over able to be used within a few 
days or less by what was hoped to be NATO troops.

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This idea of using a tactical nuclear weapon 
against the much larger numbers of conventional

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armour of the Soviets was seen by many in the 
military and in the political leadership of

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the West as one of the triggers that could 
then bring about an allout nuclear war,

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one to be avoided as much as possible 
unless there were no other alternative.

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The use of these enhanced radiation weapons 
were put into practise in the late 50s and

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60s as part of an anti-ballistic missile 
systems used both by the US and the Soviets.

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Here, high speed anti-ballistic 
missiles such as the Sprint missile,

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would be fired into the path of the incoming 
ICBM's and detonated within a 100 metres of

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them. The high energy neutron burst given off 
would cause a partial fission of the incoming

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warhead and also damage the electronics, with 
the hope of effectively disabling the weapon.

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Approximately 120 of these neutron 
bomb armed missiles were built,

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and about 70 entered service from 1975 to 1976 
as part of the Safeguard Anti ballistic missile

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programme until it was shut down and eventually 
decommissioned in the early 1980s as part of

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the strategic arms limitation or SALT talks.
The Soviets also used this type of device as

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the last layer of their anti-ballistic 
missile defence over Moscow to protect

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it against a western attack.
But how clean and humane were the

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claims of Cohen about the neutron bombs.
The primary method of destruction was an

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intense burst of neutron radiation which would 
be effective against any organic materials,

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basically anything that was alive 
in the radiation blast radius.

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Atoms are made-up of positively 
charged protons, Negatively charged

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electrons and neutrons which carry no charge.
When a fission reaction occurs in materials like

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uranium 235 or plutonium 239, these large unstable 
atoms split apart when they're hit by a neutron.

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This causes new isotopes to be created 
and a lot of energy in the form of heat,

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gamma and Xrays and the release of two to three 
more neutrons which can then go on and hit other

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uranium or plutonium atoms, in an exponential 
chain reaction which only stops when the material

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itself is blown apart by the heat of the reaction.
The neutrons released are fast or prompt neutrons

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usually in the 13 to 14 mega electron volt range. 
This means that when they hit Protons in the atoms

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of living cells especially hydrogen atoms in 
water and fat cells, they can recoil a proton

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forward at high speed, and because the proton is a 
charged particle it dumps its energy very densely

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causing intense ionisation paths within the cell.
This causes complex DNA damage like breaking it

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up into smaller strands and 
leaving clustered lesions,

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it also damages cell structures and membranes 
and causes cell death or the loss of function.

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This high energy neutron radiation can also create 
secondary radiation which gives off gamma rays and

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other energetic particles would should go 
on to create further damage inside cells.

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There is also another effect cause by neutron 
radiation which is called “neutron activation”.

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This is where neutron radiation induces 
radioactivity into other non-radioactive

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materials when their atomic nuclei capture the 
free neutrons becoming heavier and entering

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an excited state which is unstable. This 
nucleus then starts to decay immediately

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by emitting gamma rays or particles such 
as beta and alpha and fission products.

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Basically, what this means is that within the 
neutron blast radius, other materials especially

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metals but also including air, water and soil 
and elements in it can be made radioactive.

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Normally these have short half-lives ranging from 
7.3 seconds with Nitrogen-16 in Air and water,

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to 14.96 hours for Sodium-24 in concrete & 
soil salts but upto 5.27 years for Cobalt-60

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in steels and alloys, all of these would 
all add to the radioactivity in the area.

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Although it was said that death would be instant 
for those close to the detonation with radiation

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levels of up to 8 grey, for reference 1-2 
grey is usually fatal but not instant .

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If they were farther way the dose would still 
be lethal but the effects of acute radiation

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syndrome could take days or weeks before 
death finally occurred as the body can no

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longer replaced damaged cells, basically 
a slow painfully and very inhuman end.

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If you have ever seen the dramatized TV series 
Chernobyl, you will have seen the effect is has.

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Now these were under Ideal conditions, however 
in the real world things would be different.

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The Soviets knew these weapons could be 
used and it doesn't actually take much to

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add enough protection to mitigate 
most the extra neutron radiation.

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The air itself provides absorption this is why 
the range is only about 1 kilometre beyond that it

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drops off rapidly. Also armoured vehicles could be 
fitted with extra materials with a high hydrogen

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content such as water, plastics & polyethylene 
or boron carbide, borated steel, or wax. This

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could drop the neutron levels in the vehicles 
to where it no longer incapacitates the crew.

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Then there is the issue that if such attack were 
to occur, there would be thousands of vehicles,

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and they only have to be spread out a 
bit more and you would need hundreds of

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neutron bombs covering approximately 1 square 
kilometre each to mount an effective defence.

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Even though they have a much smaller 
blast radius and fallout levels,

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detonating dozens or hundreds of neutron 
bombs in a relatively small area would

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probably be worse than using conventional 
nuclear weapons. And as it would be on home

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soil, any collateral damage would be 
against German civilians, not soviets.

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But the most obvious thing was that to 
use any form of tactical nuclear weapon,

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be it conventional or ERW would more than likely 
trigger a corresponding response from the Soviets,

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and before you know where you are 
you're into a full scale nuclear war.

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Although Jimmy Carter's administration, said 
they would adopt the neutron bomb they put it

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on hold and didn't actually build any. It would 
be Ronald Reagan’s administration which actually

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built them and put them into production with 
approximately 700 ERW devices in the 1980s,

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in the form of the W70 Mod 3 lance missile 
and the W79 Mod 0, 8 inch artillery shell.

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However, due to extreme political pressure 
from Europe where these devices would

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ultimately be used, they were not deployed 
and instead stockpiled in the United States.

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During the mid to late 80s superior high 
precision conventional anti-tank weaponry like

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the A10 warthog and advanced anti-tank missiles 
made the neutron weapons obsolete by the 1990s.

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The last of the W70 warheads for the Lance 
missiles were dismantled in 1996 and W79

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artillery shells were fully disposed of by 2003.
Other countries also developed ERW weapons,

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including France and China but again both only 
developed the weapons but didn't deploy them,

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instead they saw them as a technology 
reserve that could be a called up if

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required at some time in the future.
The soviets did make their own versions

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and after the fall of the USSR, its successor 
Russia in the 1990s and 2000s worked with the

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US to destroy approximately 25,000 weapons, but 
due to the fractured nature of the Soviet breakup

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its not known if all the now Russian 
ERW weapons were destroyed but if they

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did survive and have not been maintained 
its unlikely that they would still work.

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