Nuclear Bomb Test
On Monday, October 9, 2006, North Korea shocked the world by announcing that the country had successfully tested a nuclear explosive device - a report that was made later in the day with reservations from the South Korean, US and Russian sides has been confirmed. But how can such a process actually be proven, given that North Korea is the most isolated country in the world?
First indications of a possible atomic bomb test are mostly provided by the recordings of seismometers, which deflect as a result of the vibrations caused by the blast. Similarly, as of Monday morning, South Korea's Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources recorded a range of 3.58 to 3.7 on the Richter earthquake scale, a reading even better than the US Geological Survey's reading of 4.2.
On their own, these deflections of the probes do not say anything about the cause of the explosion. The fact that they were actually caused by a blast is shown by the seismic signal: unlike explosions, earthquakes begin less sharply; they build up before reaching maximum strength. The available seismometer data will therefore have to be checked further over the next few days, taking into account the geological subsoil.
In addition to the seismometers, which are distributed worldwide and are also used to monitor the test ban moratorium of the five official nuclear powers, there is a global network of measuring points that are intended to record radionuclides. According to North Korean reports, no radioactivity was released during the test. Nevertheless, it is quite possible that such substances escaped or are still escaping from the test site and are transported to other regions by air currents. It is certain that military satellites have already flown over the area and photographed it in order to look for funnel-shaped subsidence, which also indicate underground blasting.
The information on the strength of the potential bomb also varies considerably: South Korea initially estimated it at 550 tons of TNT, while Russia put it at 5 to 15 kilotons - for comparison: the Hiroshima bomb brought it to 12.5 kilotons. Two reasons speak in favor of a smaller nuclear warhead: the "weakness" of the resulting quake and the fact that North Korea's plutonium reserves are suspected by secret services, which prohibit the country from wasting larger amounts in tests. However, the latter is speculation. It is also possible that the bomb did not detonate completely, for example because the chain reaction did not fully take place. However, if the Koreans were bluffing and only used a conventional explosive device, this could be determined very quickly using satellite images: only excessively large amounts of the explosive TNT could cause such rashes, and for them, in turn, very extensive earthworks would have to take place.
