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The Castle Yankee thermonuclear test was the first bomb to use enriched Lithium-6 isotope, up to perhaps 40% enrichment. The device tested was called the Runt II design; it was reportedly very similar to the Runt design tested in Castle Bravo , other than the enrichment level.

Castle Yankee had a demonstrated yield of 13.5 Megaton s. The yield for the weaponized Mark 24 was predicted to be 10-15 megatons.

The EC24 bomb was a limited production run of the Castle Yankee test device, with 10 produced and stockpiled through 1954. The EC24 was 61 by 225 inches and weighed 39,600 pounds. The EC24 was a purely free-fall bomb design.

The production model Mark 24 nuclear bomb was 61.4 by 296 inches long, with a weight between 41,000 and 42,000 pounds. It was in service between 1954 and 1956, with a total of 105 units produced. The Mark 24 included a 64 foot diameter parachute to slow its descent.


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