While watching the "MAD" documentary video last night, something piqued my interests. The video claimed that there were many nuclear weapons that were lost at sea during the Cold War. These stray weapons were appropriately dubbed, "broken arrows."
After doing a bit of research on the topic, I found many credible sources that supported this claim, but the locations of the nuclear weapons still remain in dispute. Many of the articles and reports stated that the warheads lacked "plutonium cores" which significantly lowered the threat they posed to the general public, however, this could have been a lie conceived in order to mollify the already distraught American citizens at the time. The remainder of the nuclear weapons and nuclear bombs, those that do have plutonium and other radioactive material, have yet to be recovered. The impact they have on the environment and potentially our safety, assuming they are able to weaponized, seems to merit a considerable amount of concern even years after the incident. Not to mention that the documentary also stated that the amount of nuclear weapons lost by the Soviet Union is still unknown and probably much larger than that of the United States. It is astonishing that the government has yet to take the effort to locate this radioactive material in order to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands or even just to keep it as a reminder of how close the US and Soviet Union came to fighting a nuclear war.
Detailed reports, however, were kept of the incidents though they were not disclosed to the general public at the time. Missions involving the transportation of nuclear warheads usually went awry and the warheads were rarely ever able to be recovered which resulted the myriad "broken arrows" of 1958-1971.
Here is an excerpt from one of the articles that I read detailing one particular "broken arrow" that was mentioned in a lot of the articles I read:
January 24, 1961: Goldsboro, North Carolina
In one of the closest calls in accidental nuclear detonation history, a single safety switch prevented a 20-megaton Mk39 hydrogen bomb from exploding in North Carolina in January 1961. When a B-52 carrying two of the bombs suffered a fuel leak in the wing, the plane exploded and dropped both bombs earthward. The parachute of one bomb deployed, but the other weapon nearly detonated when five of its six safety devices failed and it broke apart upon impact with the ground. While the Air Force recovered the bomb’s plutonium, the thermonuclear stage containing uranium was never found. The Air Force subsequently purchased and fenced off a land easement in the area where officials believe the uranium lies.
If you are curious and want to learn more:
http://www.history.com/news/9-tales-of-broken-arrows-thermonuclear-near-misses-throughout-history
Are you concerned about the amount of stray nuclear material?
After doing a bit of research on the topic, I found many credible sources that supported this claim, but the locations of the nuclear weapons still remain in dispute. Many of the articles and reports stated that the warheads lacked "plutonium cores" which significantly lowered the threat they posed to the general public, however, this could have been a lie conceived in order to mollify the already distraught American citizens at the time. The remainder of the nuclear weapons and nuclear bombs, those that do have plutonium and other radioactive material, have yet to be recovered. The impact they have on the environment and potentially our safety, assuming they are able to weaponized, seems to merit a considerable amount of concern even years after the incident. Not to mention that the documentary also stated that the amount of nuclear weapons lost by the Soviet Union is still unknown and probably much larger than that of the United States. It is astonishing that the government has yet to take the effort to locate this radioactive material in order to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands or even just to keep it as a reminder of how close the US and Soviet Union came to fighting a nuclear war.
Detailed reports, however, were kept of the incidents though they were not disclosed to the general public at the time. Missions involving the transportation of nuclear warheads usually went awry and the warheads were rarely ever able to be recovered which resulted the myriad "broken arrows" of 1958-1971.
Here is an excerpt from one of the articles that I read detailing one particular "broken arrow" that was mentioned in a lot of the articles I read:
January 24, 1961: Goldsboro, North Carolina
In one of the closest calls in accidental nuclear detonation history, a single safety switch prevented a 20-megaton Mk39 hydrogen bomb from exploding in North Carolina in January 1961. When a B-52 carrying two of the bombs suffered a fuel leak in the wing, the plane exploded and dropped both bombs earthward. The parachute of one bomb deployed, but the other weapon nearly detonated when five of its six safety devices failed and it broke apart upon impact with the ground. While the Air Force recovered the bomb’s plutonium, the thermonuclear stage containing uranium was never found. The Air Force subsequently purchased and fenced off a land easement in the area where officials believe the uranium lies.
If you are curious and want to learn more:
http://www.history.com/news/9-tales-of-broken-arrows-thermonuclear-near-misses-throughout-history
Are you concerned about the amount of stray nuclear material?
You ask an excellent question here when you ask why the US hasn't retrieved its lost warheads. At the time I'm sure the answer to this question was that they did not have the technology to retrieve them. some of the one's lost at sea were likely lost at depths their retrieval submarines were unable to dive to, or could not be detected using radar. Today, however, we do have the technology to detect these things, so the question remains. Today I think the answer one would receive if they were to ask why broken arrows are not being retrieved would be purely economic. While we do now have the technology to perform the operations the harsh truth is that the operations are still extensive both in time and money. they require large search teams with bomb specialists and costly equipment, and the government doesn't feel that the recovery of broken arrows warrants that kind of effort. On a personal level i disagree with the governments assessment of their removal as not important because like you said there can be some severe ecological repercussions of radioactive material, especially in the very delicately balanced eco system that makes up our worlds sea life. However i also understand that there are a million issues that the government has to concern themselves with daily and only so much money to go around.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emma because, yes while the government is very busy doing other things and dont look at this as a major issue, they should be more concerned about the environment considering the Earth's current state. I also want to point out that the things the government is too busy with includes Justin Bieber's deployment, which is a million times less concerning than endangered sea creatures.
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