Nevada: Scientists supercharge aluminium ‘can’ to study nukes

Scientists at the Nevada test site said they generated a current equal to roughly four times all the electrical power on earth.

The current, which created pressures in materials millions of times greater than normal, was part of an experiment to better understand nuclear weapons. The experiment was conducted yesterday at the test site’s Atlas pulsed-power facility by scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

During the few millionths of a second that it operated, the 650-ton Atlas pulsed-power generator discharged nearly 19 million amps of current through an aluminum cylindrical shell about the size of a tuna can, the National Nuclear Security Administration said.