Melting the rubble?
"The warheads would explode at a distance of one-third of the NEO's diameter and each detonation's X and gamma rays and neutrons would turn part of the NEO's surface into an expanding plasma to generate a force to deflect the asteroid."
Not sure what this quote from the article means. Are they saying the first nukes could in some way change the properties of the NEO surface, so if it is a pile of rubble to begin with it could still be pushed away once that rubble is altered to a more uniform surface?