re: #68 itellu3times

Apparently it’s not all *that* easy, the Pakistani and Indian nuclear tests were only just barely successful, and there were even questions whether the Nork test was faked. They “only” got the equivalent of 200 tons (not kilotons) of TNT. That’s a big boom, but it’s way, way short of what US weapons would deliver in a counterstrike.

As I’ve said before here, it is a mistake to assume that the NORK test was a fizzle or a failure. It could have been a larger explosion, and simply well masked. Remember, we never really got a good read on the yield, according to everything I read. It could have been a test of the first stage of a multi-stage weapon, say fission-fusion-fission. Or it might have been a test to see just how little plutonium they could use, possibly for a tactical weapon. Too many possibilities to assume failure.

If we assume it was successful and act accordingly, little harm done.
If we proceed on the assumption that it was a failure, that could have serious consequences.