a reply to:
WhiteAlice
Your assertion that the casing of the bomb, and probably the firing mechanisms as well, would be beyond use, is likely accurate. However, I believe
that of the possible fates of a nuclear weapon, it would be BETTER for some nefarious type to pull them out of the ocean and then sell them on, than
allow the casings to continue to errode, until the casing is compromised, exposing the nuclear material within.
Dropping those things in the ocean, is easily the stupidest possible idea. The ocean remaining as clean as possible, as free of dangerous substances
as can be, is vital to the survival of every living thing on the face of the planet. Dropping nuclear weapons into the sea therefore, is even worse
than detonating them, in the long term.
I can understand why no one would want to drop those things on land, because of how damned awful the consequences would be for those within the drop
zone if the casings cracked, but if it happens on land, at least the oceans, which are an absolutely vital structure within the Hydrological cycle,
and the food chain on which our species relies, would remain unmolested by radioactivity.
I know they used to test nuclear weapons out near remote desert islands, and I always knew that was a bad plan as well, and I know we already pollute
the oceans with other, very harmful things as well, like oil and petrochemical waste, human biological waste, and all manner of terrible chemical
compounds that have no business being introduced into such a vital ecosystem.
But the fewer nukes that wind up in the ocean, the better, no matter the short term cost to those on land. To be brutally honest, a nuke on land
might be bad, but casings cracking open after decades under the sea, and suddenly corrupting the hell out of both the water which eventually falls as
rain, and of course the organisms within it is a MUCH bigger problem, with much more far reaching consequences!
Not much makes my hackles rise, but the idea that at some point, probably soon, we are going to have to deal with the results of the stupidity of
previous generations, such catastrophic stupidity, that creeps me the hell out.