Nuclear Weapons
88 episodes
#5798: Project Sundial: Teller's 10-Gigaton Doomsday Proposal
Edward Teller proposed a 10,000-megaton bomb in 1954. The physics allowed it — the delivery problem killed it.
#5797: How Many Nuclear Tests Have There Really Been?
Three credible sources, three different numbers — and the gap isn't new explosions. It's what each one decided to count.
#5795: Digging Harbors with Nuclear Bombs: Project Plowshare
From Sedan's 104-kiloton crater to a plan for 520 bombs in the Negev — how the atomic age tried to become civil engineering.
#5794: Starfish Prime: When the US Nuked Space
In 1962, the US detonated a 1.4-megaton warhead 400 km above the Pacific. The sky turned green for 90 minutes.
#5793: Little Boy: The Untested Bomb That Changed War
The gun-type bomb was never tested — yet it was the one they trusted. What Hiroshima's design and aftermath reveal about nuclear war.
#5792: Tsar Bomba: The 50-Megaton Test That Shook the World
In 1961, the Soviets dropped the largest bomb ever built — a weapon with no military purpose, designed to be seen.
#5698: What Happened to Iran's Nuclear Threat?
A war was launched over an imminent nuclear threat. Now the threat has vanished from the conversation — and "degraded" is doing all the work.
#5651: Nuclear Convoys: The Physics Package and the Highway
The most secretive objects on Earth move by truck on civilian highways — and people photograph them at rest stops.
#5649: Who Actually Controls Europe's B61 Bombs?
The US parks B61 bombs in six allied countries — but never hands over the keys. How nuclear sharing is engineered to not require trust.
#5628: What a Nuclear Warhead Actually Looks Like
Real warheads aren't cinematic — they're warm, gold-plated, softball-sized pits inside floor vaults under aircraft shelters.
#5619: Why Does Israel Need Six Submarines?
Israel's newest submarine, the Drakon, just arrived in Haifa. What does a six-boat fleet actually buy a country the size of New Jersey?
#5338: Iran Is Rebuilding Parchin. Again.
Satellite imagery shows Iran rebuilding the Taleghan Two site at Parchin for the second time in 18 months — this time under a tarp.
#5298: The Mountain, the Message: Nuclear Tests as Diplomacy
Nine states. Two thousand detonations. Why a nuclear test is often a sentence in a conversation, not a lab result.
#5231: Uranium: From Yellow Glass to Little Boy
Connecticut well water, Roman glass, and the isotope that changed the world — the strange story of element 92.
#5176: IAEA Reports Iran: What the Vote Actually Does
The IAEA Board reported Iran to the Security Council for the first time in 20 years — over 440kg of uranium it can't locate.
#5040: The 130,000-Person Secret: Beyond Oppenheimer's Story
The Manhattan Project wasn't just physicists on a mesa. It was 130,000 workers, secret cities, and an industrial effort we rarely hear about.
#4084: Vance's Honor Code: From Appalachia to Iran Policy
How JD Vance's Appalachian upbringing shapes a foreign policy that confuses allies and threatens adversaries.
#3765: How Enrichment Percentages Actually Work for Nuclear Weapons
Why 60% enrichment is the red line, what makes 90% weapons-grade, and the physics of breakout timelines.
#3763: How Iran Could Hide a Nuclear Stockpile
What if Iran's enriched uranium isn't at Natanz or Fordow — but split across dozens of hidden basements?
#3760: Three Days to a Bomb: Iran's 60-Day Window
Iran is 95% of the way to weapons-grade uranium. Three days of centrifuge work could finish the job.
#3670: CBRN Masks vs. Chemical Treaties: The Reality
The difference between a CBRN mask and a chemical mask, and why the global ban on chemical weapons has enforcement gaps.
#3669: The Dewey Decimal System for Things That Go Boom
Standardized codes that let investigators, diplomats, and deminers speak the same language about munitions.
#3668: White Phosphorus: The Weapon That Won't Stop Burning
How white phosphorus evades legal bans, which militaries use it, and why its effects devastate civilians.
#3642: Why Archaeologists Matter Beyond the Dig
Archaeology isn't just about ancient pottery. It shapes infrastructure, convicts war criminals, and informs climate adaptation today.