[C8]

Xi seems to be working to shape China population with greater social cohesion.

So why is he messing with Taiwan?

I have no clue but I seriously doubt he intends to invade it. Xi really wants Taiwan's industries intact as they are very valuable. It could be a distraction from the economic crisis going on in China.

[vtsnowedin]

Xi seems to be working to shape China population with greater social cohesion.

So why is he messing with Taiwan?

I have no clue but I seriously doubt he intends to invade it. Xi really wants Taiwan's industries intact as they are very valuable. It could be a distraction from the economic crisis going on in China.

Yes he wants the industries intact but would probably destroy some of it and a lot of civilian infrastructure to seize the balance. It will come down to how he calculates the probable costs against the possible remaining value of his gains.
Taiwan with our help should make his numbers look very very negative.

[Newfie]

Xi may want an external enemy to foster internal cohesion.

But honestly, China remains an enigma to me.

[vtsnowedin]

Xi may want an external enemy to foster internal cohesion.

But honestly, China remains an enigma to me.

It has for most Westerners for centuries so welcome to the club.

[theluckycountry]

Tanad,

Do you have an opinion on how the Ukraine war will shape future nuclear development?

Are you considering nuclear energy or nuclear weapons?

lol. There was that story the other day about Putin moving tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus, I guess that qualifies.

[Tanada]

Something too many governments seem to be completely ignoring in the threat of weapons of mass destruction department.

Abstract

A series of critical-mass experiments using a 6-kg neptunium sphere was performed on the Planet vertical-assembly machine at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The purpose of the experiments was to obtain a better estimate of the critical mass of 237Np. The configurations that were studied included surrounding the neptunium sphere with highly enriched uranium (HEU) shells as well as reflecting it with iron and polyethylene. An additional experiment using a 4.5-kg α-phase plutonium sphere surrounded with HEU was performed to demonstrate how well the computer transport code and the existing cross-section data for uranium and plutonium could reproduce the experiment. For some of the configurations, the prompt-neutron decay constants at delayed critical were measured. These experiments provided an integral measurement of the cross sections for 237Np in the fast-energy and possibly in the intermediate-energy regions. The measured keff from these experiments was compared with the calculated keff from the Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) transport code using ENDF/B-V and ENDF/B-VI and cross-section data evaluated by the Nuclear Theory and Applications group (T-16) at LANL. In all the neptunium experiments, the calculated keff values based on ENDF/B-VI data were ~1% lower than the experimental keff. After adjusting the cross sections for neptunium and 235U to match the bare neptunium/HEU experiment as well as Godiva keff criticality and spectra indexes, the MCNP code yielded a value of 57 ± 4 kg for the bare critical mass of 237Np.

LINK