<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (August 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (August 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> A thermonuclear weapon is a second - generation nuclear weapon design using a secondary nuclear fusion stage consisting of implosion tamper, fusion fuel, and sparkplug which is bombarded by the energy released by the detonation of a primary fission bomb within, compressing the fuel material (tritium, deuterium or lithium deuteride) and causing a fusion reaction . Some advanced designs use fast neutrons produced by this second stage to ignite a third fast fission or fusion stage . The fission bomb and fusion fuel are placed near each other in a special radiation - reflecting container called a radiation case that is designed to contain x-rays for as long as possible . The result is greatly increased explosive power when compared to single - stage fission weapons . The device is colloquially referred to as a hydrogen bomb or, an H - bomb, because it employs the fusion of isotopes of hydrogen . </P> <P> The first full - scale thermonuclear test was carried out by the United States in 1952; the concept has since been employed by most of the world's nuclear powers in the design of its weapons . The modern design of all thermonuclear weapons in the United States is known as the Teller--Ulam configuration for its two chief contributors, Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam, who developed it in 1951 for the United States, with certain concepts developed with the contribution of John von Neumann . Similar devices were developed by the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, France, and China . </P>

What is the difference between nuclear and thermonuclear weapons
find me the text answering this question