U.S.-Soviet Race To Make “Death Ray” Bomb

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29220, 2 June 1960, Page 21

U.S.-Soviet Race To Make “Death Ray” Bomb

[From a Special Correspondent in New York}

The United States and Soviet Russia are locked in a feverish

“hush-hush” race behind -heavily-guarded laboratory walls for the most liideous weapon of human annihilation—the neutron bomb. Its readiness—possibly before the end of this year—would make atom and hydrogen bombs obsolete. It would probably shatter for ever any hopes that East and West can agree to ban nuclear tests.

Scientists call this N-bomb the “death ray” weapon of the future. It is also the bomb no-one wants to talk about.

The Atomic Energy Commission has repeatedly declined to comment on it, refusing even to acknowledge that this most terrible bomb of all exists in theory. But not everybody has been so secretive about it A number of hints, leaks and vague references in scientific journals have enabled civilian scientists not connected with Government work to piece things together. Result—the most frightening force of death ever to face mankind.

Here, briefly, is what makes the N-bomb so “attractive”:

It could wipe out the population of a city—or entire armies in a battlefield—without destroying machines, buildings and property an invader might want. The N-bomb would be available in smaller packages than atomic or hydrogen bombs, and would be capable of being triggered with ordinary, “oldfashioned” T.N.T. Its blast would produce almost no uncontrolled fallout. This means that N-bombs could be used on an enemy without risk of contaminating friendly forces, areas they would have to enter, or the user’s territory. They would deliver a lethal dose of radiation within a one-mile radius of the bomb’s explosion. Neutron “streams” would penetrate walls of ordinary buildings, even military tanks, to become an “invisible” crippier or killer of human beings. It would be so “compact” that a team of soldiers could fire “neutron warheads” into enemy concentrations from simple launchers. A team of saboteurs could carry a small neutron bomb into enemy territory to destroy men at essential nerve centres. A Possibility

The first hint of the feasibility of what has been called “major development in nuclear weapon technology” came from Dr. Freeman Dyson, of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. Dr. Dyson referred to it in an article in the April issue of the authoritative quarterly, “Foreign Affairs.” Last week, Senator Thomas J. Dodd revealed that a neutron bomb was a theoretical possibility. "Such a bomb can theoretically be produced,” he said, “by tailoring the energy of a fusion explosion so that, instead of heat and blast, its primary product is a burst of neutrons. Such a burst would do negligible physical damage, but it would immediately destroy all life in the target area. It would, in short, operate as a kind of death ray. The senator said he had heard that in the light of theoretical knowledge, “the neutron bomb is no more questionable than the hydrogen bomb was six months before it was demonstrated that one could be built.” When he sought official information, he said, he was told the matter was secret. Like Dr. Dyson he suggested that the Russians might use a nuclear weapon test suspension

agreement surreptitiously to get ahead of the United States in the development of such a device. The neutron bomb, it is argued, would make meaningless any attempt at enforcing such a test ban. The chances of finding out whether Russia was secretly testing neutron bombs, according to civilian scientists, would be “a million to one” because blast signals would be so weak and disguised. This is said to be the real worry among scientists in the United States, who know all the facts about the neutron bomb. They are convinced, it is reported, that the Soviets could make a mockery of any test ban, even if both sides agreed to numerous inspection sites and listening posts. Dr. Dyson quoted the prominent Russian physicist, L. L. Artsimovitch, as writing in a Russian journal in December, 1958, that Russian experiments in 1952 showed that neutrons could be produced by a device using heavy hydrogen and conventional explosives. Dr. Dyson thought the article might have been an attempt to draw American scientists into saying what they had learned of the possibility of fission-free nuclear weapons. Mr Khrushchev referred cryptically some time ago to “fantastic” new weapons in the hands of Soviet scientists. This has given rise to some speculation that he may have been referring to a neutron bomb.

The danger of such a bomb in the hands of Russia alone is understood by United States Government officials, according to civilian experts, although these officials are being told not to discuss the matter.

Despite the secrecy—and even some denials of United States interest in the project—the magazine “U.S. News and World Report” this week said that research was going ahead. According to the magazine, this research is centred at the University of California’s Radiation Laboratory at Livermore, where advanced weapons are developed for the Atomic Energy Commission.

It was at this laboratory, whose director is Dr. Edward Teller, chief opponent to a nuclear test ban agreement, that the hydrogen bomb was perfected. Difference from H-bomb The difference between atomic and hydrogen bombs on the one hand and the neutron bomb on the other is this: When a nuclear bomb is exploded, it releases energy in several forms, but .mainly as heat and light. Heat is what causes blast and shock and the big “mushroom” seen after an atomic explosion. Another effect is lethal radiation. One primary form of this radiation is streams of neutrons, the particles that are kicked loose from the core of the atom. Most of them don’t travel very far—now—blit, when they reach human beings, neutrons deform and destroy body cells and, in sufficient dosages, cause death. Now it appears possible to build the kind of bomb that will cut down on the amount of blast and “hot” debris and send larger and more powerful streams of neutrons shooting out in all directions.

In the neutron bomb, only a small fission-type explosion would be needed as a trigger. This would create correspondingly less blast and fallout, but more invisible death rays. American scientists, according to “U.S. News and World Report,” consider the challenge of the neutron bomb in many ways to be “more demanding” than the hydrogen bomb. In today’s bombs, neutrons that are released are slowed down and “captured” In the bomb-blast process before they get very far and do much damage. A practical way must be found at Livermore to enable more neutrons to “escape” more easily and penetrate great distances with great speed. When this is done, the symbol of atomic death will no longer be the nightmarish mushroom. It will be a precise mathematical, formula that adds up to invisible; annihilation. Associated Newspapers’ Feature Service.)