With its original mission no longer available, the Livermore lab tried radical new designs that failed. Its first three nuclear tests were fizzles: in 1953, two single-stage fission devices with uranium hydride pits, and in 1954, a two-stage thermonuclear device in which the secondary heated up prematurely, too fast for radiation implosion to work properly.
With its original mission no longer available the Livermore lab tried radical new designs that failed Its first three nuclear tests were fizzles in 1953 two single-stage fission devices with uranium hydride pits and in 1954 a two-stage thermonuclear device in which the secondary heated up prematurely too fast for radiation implosion to work properly