Current Nuclear Weapons Development

[Scott Kenny]

On the other hand, the U.S. is not designing new warheads. New weapons are just rebuilds of existing physics packages.

And if any of the geometry of the physics package changes, the computer models are 32 years old, and the high-speed sensors that produced the data then are now cheap enough to put in a burner-quality smartphone.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Could you give an example of a target where 300kt with a <100m CEP would not suffice?

The bunker complex that is part of the new Beijing Military City, and even the old Western Hills leadership bunker facility that it is meant to supersede is hardened against megaton-range strikes.

 

[Forest Green]

That plant is specifically to reprocess waste into reactor-grade Pu, which is a very different process from turning waste into weapons-grade Pu.

Not always, look at THORP in the UK, it's produced a shed-load of weapons grade Pu.

The bunker complex that is part of the new Beijing Military City, and even the old Western Hills leadership bunker facility that it is meant to supersede is hardened against megaton-range strikes.

TBH, targets like NORAD and enemy equivalents won't be the main concern, it's killing the enemy's ability to strike you and then their economy. If some men want to hide under a granite mountain or similar, leave them there.