Is it possible to remotely detect a nuclear weapon?

[dimensionless]

If so, how is it detected? Are hydrogen bombs significantly harder to detect than conventional fission bombs? St what distance can it be detected? Will this range be increased in the future?

 

[DaveC426913]

Are you referring to pre-detonation detection? Or post?

It, um, makes a difference in the numbers.

 

[mathman]

Weapons that are detonated are very easy to detect - blast, fallout, etc. Weapons in storage are much more difficult - spies are probably the best way.

 

[moose]

An extremely quick and painless google search will give you the answer. Just search nuclear weapon detection or something

 

[dimensionless]

Pre-detonation. I imagine a detonation would show up as a seismic event, right?

My google search suggests that nuclear weapons are not easily detected.

 

[DaveC426913]

Pre-detonation. I imagine a detonation would show up as a seismic event, right?

Well yes. I was thinking more in terms a very rapid rise in temperature into the tens of hundreds of thousands of degrees, and a resulting plasmification of every atom in your body.

Seismic detection would be more ... subtle.

 

[Haelfix]

Apparently there are proposals to send a beam of neutrinos or high energy photons through the Earth into an outgoing sattelite receiver (or tub for neutrinos) or somesuch to detect concentrated fissile material of a specific type. But obviously the logistics are ridiculously complicated and the false positives would be large.

But at this time, proposals like that are nothing more than science fiction.

 

[Mk]

Spies, aerial photos, and satellites. Obviously for the developmental/storage stages.