History Main / NuclearNullifier

** The missile shield is also briefly brought up in fellow "Creator/TomClancy's" game ''VideoGame/GhostReconFutureSoldier'': [[spoiler:London gets hit with a nuclear missile between the sixth and seventh missions. The missile shield takes out the nuclear warhead, but can't do anything about the missile itself, which trashes several skyscrapers and sends a ton of glass shards down to shred pedestrians.]]

** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'', the Soviets were able to launch [[InvadedStatesOfAmerica a massive attack on the United States]] because Yuri's Psychic Corps utterly neutralized the US's nuclear arsenal by mind-controlling the silos' operators. The Soviets, though, still had ''their'' nuclear missiles, [[spoiler:much to the detriment of anyone who happened to be in Chicago at the end of the fourth Allied mission]].

* This was part of the BigBad Skull Face's plan in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain''. He had possession of "metallic archaea", microscopic organisms which would render uranium un-fissiliable, meaning nuclear warheads would not detonate. From there, he would become the world's sole vendor of functional nuclear weapons to a world already destabilized by the language-affecting parasites (which were Part 1 of his plan).

* The nuclear warhead could actually be "nullified" by subjecting it to powerful neutron radiation. The external neutrons, hitting the fissionable fuel in warhead, would induce the low-grade fission reaction in it and creating a lot of short-lived isotopes, essentially "poisoning" the fuel. So when such "pre-heated" warhead would attempt to detonate, the chain reaction would go faster and reach critical before most of the fuel would get involved - and the warhead would fizzle, destroying itself in a weak (subkiloton to low kiloton scale) thermal explosion, throwing the majority of fuel around. While it would not completely "nullify" the weapon, the small - albeit dirty - explosion of about several tons of TNT is much better than full-power multi-megaton blast.
* That's why nuclear-tipped surface-to-air (and even air-to-air) missiles and anti-ballistic missiles were so popular in 1960s. Even if target (enemy missile or bomber) would survive the blast, the radiation flux would cause warheads to fizzle.
** Modern warheads, though, are usually of boosted fission design - i.e. they have a very small amount of fusion fuel inside, so when the fission reaction starts, it would ignite a low-level fusion. While the energy from such weak fusion is negligible, it produce a lot of neutrons, which "afterburn" the fission fuel around, thus causing the boosted fission warhead to have much more fuel efficiency than just fission.

That's why nuclear-tipped surface-to-air (and even air-to-air) missiles and anti-ballistic missiles were so popular in 1960s. Even if target (enemy missile or bomber) would survive the blast, the radiation flux would cause warheads to fizzle.

* ''Literature/EndersGame'' has an offhand mention of shields that "make it so nobody bothers with nuclear weapons anymore." [[spoiler:Within a few years, though, it's demonstrated that the MD Device can [[EarthShatteringKaboom destroy an entire planet]].]] However, Creator/OrsonScottCard seems to have forgotten about this in later books, as Earth going to nuclear war is a major threat in ''Literature/EnderInExile'' and the ''Literature/EndersShadow'' sequels.

* This was part of the BigBad Skull Face's plan in VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain. He had possession of "metallic archaea", microscopic organisms which would render uranium un-fissiliable, meaning nuclear warheads would not detonate. From there, he would become the world's sole vendor of functional nuclear weapons to a world already destabilized by the language-affecting parasites (which were Part 1 of his plan).