How to create a nuclear explosion localized to only a few square feet?
Is there a way to create a nuclear explosion that only destroys things within a few feet of the bomb?
The point is to completely eradicate something relatively small, leaving no trace. Let's assume that this is taking place on Earth. The government that is using this procedure has access to lots of funds, so cost isn't a problem.
I'm imagining that the explosion would have to be done using a tiny bomb with only a little bit of fission/fusion (i have no idea) in a controlled and protected environment, to prevent both the impact and nuclear radiation from leaking out and harming the surrounding people and environment.
How would someone go about doing this?
(See Should we be mindful of potentially dangerous questions? on meta.)
If this can't be done using a nuclear explosion, another method of near-total destruction of a contained area would be a valid answer.
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The smallest warhead created for the US military was the W54 Davy Crocket which used 23kg of Pu239 and had a yield equivalent to 10-20 tons of TNT.
Video of the Davy Crocket being fired.
According to other research, the smallest amount of Pu239 you can use to make a bomb is 10kg, which still has the power of several tons of TNT, plus the thermal effects. So even that small of an amount would take out a normal city block.
I don't know if it would completely vaporize the target, but none of the pieces would be very big, and they would be pretty spread out.
Edit: So, after a lot more reading, I found that there are ways to lower the threshold for critical mass: shaping the pit, neutron reflectors, the type of explosives used to compress the mass, etc. With all the right tricks you can get it down to about 4kg.
Fatman only used 6.2kg of Pu 239, and it had a yield of 20 kilotons. So you would have to find ways to lower the efficiency.
Apparently it's harder to go smaller with a nuke than it is to go bigger.
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