The idea originated with Hungarian-American physicist Leo Szilard, in February 1950. The term is derived both from the means of their manufacture, which involves the incorporation of additional elements to a standard atomic weapon, and from the expression 'to salt the earth', meaning to render an area uninhabitable for generations.
This fallout can render a large area uninhabitable. A salted bomb is a nuclear weapon designed to function as a radiological weapon by producing larger quantities of radioactive fallout than unsalted nuclear arms.