Last week, scientist in Nevada successfully tested the Atlas pulse-powered generator, designed to certify the power of nuclear weapons, by imploding a small aluminum cylinder using what amounts to about four times all the electrical power on Earth.  According to the press release, the Atlas will be used not only to crush tin cans, but to “characterize the behavior of materials at the extreme conditions in an exploding nuclear weapon.”  The ability to reproduce these types of experiments so efficiently will be a move toward advancing the science of nuclear weapons without resorting to underground nuclear explosions.  We should all keep our fingers crossed for a can-crushing home version.

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