shaped nuclear charges

Alright guys you have heard of HEAT rounds. Chemical explosives that have a special shape that directs the blast in one direction. read here
en.wikipedia.org...

I was reading in some history books the other day about the nuclear bombs development. It was some really fascination stuff. They guys who worked on the manhattan project were true geniuses and pioneers. They were discussing how TNT was placed in strategic locations to exert a compressive force via explosive lenses that were shaped like breasts. No kidding! Ok let me get to the point.
One of the authors hypothesized that a one kiloton nuke would be able to punch a hole in the earth 2 miles deep and ten foot wide. it sounds preposterous does anybody think that this could be real.

I don't think that is actually possible. Nuclear explosions don't work that way. Not yet, anyway. Nuclear explosions make a "big bubble" of destruction. Punching a long narrow hole in the ground, that would be so different, it probably wouldn't be called nuclear at all.

The detonation of the nuclear device requires it to be surrounded by special shaped charges in order to maximize the yield. That isn't the same as shaping the results of a nuclear explosion.

In addition, current speculation on "bunker buster" nuclear weapons, would also have to have a method of punching through steel, dirt, concrete. That wouldn't be a shaped charge for that, more likely just high speed, and hard materials.

Here's a good article on punching holes in the ground:
Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator
www.answers.com...

In the US military, the acronym HEAT stands for High Explosive Anti-Tank, I am not an ordnance technician but I've never heard of a nuclear warhead on an HEAT missile.

with the nonproliferation treaty we'll never know.

Originally posted by ZPE StarPilot
Punching a long narrow hole in the ground, that would be so different, it probably wouldn't be called nuclear at all.

It's the reactions that take place that give it the name nuclear. Either elements are broken down (fission), combined together (fusion), or a combination of the two. So no matter what the charge ends up doing, it would still be a nuclear explosion.

maybe there is some way to convert the radiation from the reaction into a gaseous plasma and that plasma can be used in junction with a metal cone to produce your monroe effect. i am thinking about using say a large cylinder of polethylen plastic. since the plastic does not contain fissile elements(heavier than iron) it might vaporize and squeze the metal liner. This would be hard to say becuase I don't have security clearance to work with those simulation computers.