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There is a related paper at:

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/Adams_2013_Ph...

I found the Executive Summary and Background sections to be pretty easy to understand, at least for this layman. I haven't read the rest of the paper yet.

TLDR, assuming I understand correctly: Imagine an Orion-drive spaceship powered by tiny, tiny H-bombs where the chemical explosives have been replaced by a magnetic z-pinch (a la the Sandia Z-machine).

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I wonder if this could be made into a 'blaster' like in science fiction stories, here on Earth.

I'm guessing you just mis-typed, but I think you meant nuclear instead of chemical.

No, I think he's talking about the initial, chemical explosion that sets off the fission + fusion part, at least in the old bombs.

That's right. Note that there are other Z-pinch fusion designs which use the Z-pinch to directly trigger fusion reaction without going through a fission intermediary.

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