National Museum of Nuclear Science & History
For the first 15 years of the nuclear weapons era, all nuclear components were stored separately from the rest of the weapon. The M102 was the first pressurized storage and shipping container, often called the "birdcage".
The nickname "birdcage" came from the metal frame that surrounds the central storage tube. Used with bombs and artillery rounds, the frame kept nuclear components separated. The neutron-absorbing material in the central storage tube prevented nuclear components that were stored close together from causing a nuclear reaction.
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