Red mercury

Alternate meanings: Shadow Ops: Red Mercury is a video game, and Red Mercury (referring to the Roman god) is an Austrian postage stamp. It is also a term used in Alchemy.

Red mercury is a substance reputedly used for the creation of nuclear bombs. There is some debate as to the nature of red mercury and whether it even exists, so such information as is available on the subject is based largely on hearsay and speculation.

The more controversial theory is that red mercury is an incredibly powerful conventional explosive that can be used in the making of small and highly portable fusion bombs (H-bombs) or red mercury WMD. Current fusion bombs require the detonation of a nuclear fission device to trigger a fusion reaction. A conventional explosion of red mercury is supposedly powerful enough to similarly trigger a fusion reaction, without the need for nuclear fission. A bomb of such design would be much smaller and easier to transport than current fusion bombs; if red mercury exists and has such properties, it might be used to make a softball-sized bomb with a yield of two megatons. This theory has been advanced by neutron bomb inventor Samuel Cohen, however many of his other weapons-related statements in the past have been shown to be somewhat inaccurate.

In a hydrogen bomb, the fission primary is used to produce x-rays which compress the fusion fuel (whose fusion reactions produce energy which is then used to create more fission in a uranium sparkplug). This would seem to imply that red mercury is supposed to produce massive amounts of pressure and x-rays, on a scale of that comparable to atomic weapons. If this were the case, then it would be a potent weapon in and of itself, without use in a nuclear weapon. However, no substance of this nature has ever been shown to exist, nor has there been apparently any theoretical reasons to think that it could exist.

This form of red mercury may be the compound antimony mercury oxide, which is irradiated after its creation, perhaps by being placed in a nuclear reactor. However there seems to be no reason to assume that irradiating this component would turn it into an explosive of this nature.

More mundane theories on the nature of the substance include:

• that it is very high-quality uranium or plutonium, being distributed under a codename
• that its existence is a hoax perpetrated on would-be terrorists, rogue states, or traffickers in military contraband

One televised report indicated that the Soviet Union, which had a vested interest in nuclear non-proliferation, encouraged the KGB and GRU to arrange sting operations for the detection of those seeking to deal in nuclear materials. The Soviet intelligence services created a myth of the necessity of "red mercury" for the sorts of nuclear devices that terrorists and rogue governments might seek. The substance, antimony sulphide, is a mere pigment devoid of properties suitable for nuclear weapons. Possession of this substance as the result of undercover deals with Soviet law enforcement was an obvious ground for immediate arrest and likely conviction in criminal courts, with severe punishment following conviction.

Following the arrest of several men in the UK in September 2004, on suspicion they were trying to buy a kilo of red mercury for £300,000, the International Atomic Energy Agency made a statement dismissing claims that the substance is real. "Red mercury doesn't exist," said the spokesman. "The whole thing is a bunch of malarkey."

For further reading

• Peter Hounam, Steve McQuillan, The Mini-Nuke Conspiracy: How Mandela Inherited a Nuclear Nightmare, Viking Adult (October 1, 1995) ISBN 0670869252. This book from way back in 1995 made the claim that South Africa had made the Russian Red Mercury, and with it a 1000 tactical mini nukes, that were now in the hands of nongovernmental South African right-wing elements. Nothing about this has gotten any more believeable over time.

External links

• The Nuclear Threat That Doesn't Exist – or Does It? (http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/douglass/2003/0311.htm)
• About.com: What is Red Mercury? (http://chemistry.about.com/cs/chemicalweapons/f/blredmercury.htm)
• Mercuric Pyro-Antimonate (http://www.geocities.com/smshires.geo/)de:Rotes Quecksilber