Sep 09, 2024 20:00:00

A diagram of a thermonuclear warhead, classified as a top national secret, was discovered in a logo image

Alex Wellerstein , a professor at Stevens Institute of Technology and the operator of The Nuclear Secrecy Blog , a blog that summarizes the history of nuclear weapons, discovered a structural diagram of a thermonuclear warhead that was classified as a state secret in an old presentation document he came across on Reddit.

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In September 2024, Wellerstai accidentally discovered a 'presentation slide created by Sandia National Laboratories in 2007' posted on Reddit.

This material was used in a presentation on 'Introduction to Computer Modeling' given by researchers from Sandia National Laboratories at a conference in Luxembourg. The slide below shows the logo of the SIERRA framework and lists the various modeling software that are part of the framework.

While examining the documents, Wellerstai came across what looked very much like a cross-section of a thermonuclear weapon design:

Wellersty was curious about what this 'cross-section of a thermonuclear weapon design' was, so he started looking for a high-resolution version of the presentation materials. He accessed the official website of

the Office of Scientific and Technical Information of the U.S. Department of Energy and searched for presentation materials by entering words that seemed related, and was able to find high-resolution versions of the materials using search terms such as 'Sierra,' 'Salinas,' and 'Conference presentations.' The highest resolution was the SIERRA framework logo included in another presentation material from 2008.

After checking out the high-resolution version of the image, Wellersty said, 'This appears to be a nuclear warhead re-entry vehicle . The red, yellow, and orange parts at the tip are the detonation, extension, and ignition systems, and the green and blue parts below them look like a thermonuclear warhead. The green parts are the primary (the fission bomb part used to obtain the high temperature and pressure to detonate the fusion bomb), and the blue parts are typical representations of the secondary (fusion part). There is some debate about what each colored part represents, but they appear to represent a radiation case, intermediate medium, damper, fusion fuel, and spark plug. The central cylinder part has an interesting little indentation, like a channel to guide neutrons to the spark plug.'

In addition, on another page of the same presentation material, an image of a 3D model showing the structure of the thermonuclear warhead was also found. However, while the structure of the warhead can be seen in more detail in this image, the primary and secondary parts are painted red. However, the exact dimensions are written, which 'surprised me,' Wellerstai wrote.

This graphic is included in at least six presentation materials published on the official website of the Office of Scientific and Technical Information of the Department of Energy, and has been used on several other government websites, according to Wellerstai. For example, a similar graphic was included in

a presentation published by NASA in 2011. This graphic, which appears to be a cross-section of a thermonuclear warhead, is included in the logo of the SIERRA framework, so it has been used in many presentations and can be found multiple times in a public, unclassified database hosted by the U.S. government.

In addition, Wellerstai found what appeared to be a cross-section of a thermonuclear warhead in another presentation from Sandia National Laboratories. It was shown as an example of modeling work for structural dynamics, and although it was noted as being part of a nuclear weapon, no other details were provided.

SIERRA is a simulation and modeling tool that allows scientists to simulate safety issues for full-spectrum weapons. It is a simulation tool used to ensure that weapons do not explode when dropped, set on fire, or struck by lightning. It does not model how nuclear weapons explode, but 'models various materials (steel, uranium, lithium, etc.) to simulate what would happen if a nuclear weapon were dropped or cracked or distorted.'

Since the 1990s, the US Department of Energy has used the following image as the only diagram of a multi-stage thermonuclear weapon. This is apparently because thermonuclear weapons are important national secrets and the government did not allow details to be shown. This diagram also appears in

the Nuclear Issues Handbook 2020 (revised edition) published by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Affairs. This diagram only shows the existence of two structures, a primary and a secondary, in a thermonuclear weapon, and does not reveal any other details.

Wellersty has used

FOIA requests to ask the government for information, but all of the documents he has been able to access have been redacted to make important terms unreadable. 'What I want to emphasize is that the Department of Energy is not treating these types of images carelessly, but rather the opposite,' he writes.

The Department of Energy is so keen to keep the design and shape of thermonuclear weapons secret because it is concerned about nuclear proliferation, and even the appearance of disclosing secrets could spark unwanted rumors and political scandals, Wellerstai said.

When asked why the cross-section of a thermonuclear warhead, which should be classified information, was used in the SIERRA Framework logo, Wellersty said, 'One possibility is an accident, leak, or careless mistake.' However, the fact that multiple agencies use the SIERRA Framework logo in various presentation materials means that those in charge of handling classified information have repeatedly overlooked it. 'It's not impossible, but I think it's extremely unlikely' that such a mistake would occur over the course of several years, Wellersty said.

Another possibility is that the image is an 'intentional release of classified information.' However, Wellersty denied this possibility, as efforts are being made to handle classified information to prevent this from happening. Therefore, Wellersty suggested that it may not be a cross-section of a thermonuclear warhead, or that it may be 'intentional disinformation.'

However, in the latest SIERRA framework logo, the logo has been partially altered to make what appears to be a cross-section of a thermonuclear warhead much less visible. However, the cross-section remains in the logo.

Later, Wellerstai found an image similar to what appeared to be a 'cross-section of a thermonuclear warhead' in

a 2014 Sandia National Laboratories computational science article . The image 'highlights several components of the nuclear weapon body with an intentionally simplified mesh. Each component is made up of numerous subcomponents, secured together with screws, nuts, bolts, and bottle cap-like fasteners,' making it clear that, although 'intentionally simplified,' it still showed the structure of a nuclear weapon.

Wellerstai noted that even if the cross-section diagram was intentionally simplified, 'it is surprising that the Department of Energy would release images that actually suggest the graphical structure of a thermonuclear weapon, and it clearly goes beyond the scope of information it would normally permit.'