“Narrative summaries of Accidents Involving Nuclear Weapons.”

According to a Department of Defense report, there have been at least 32 “accidents involving nuclear weapons.”

(and the report only counts US accidents which occurred before 1980!)
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/3ae9c30ae519.jpg[/atsimg]

They include such gaffes as nuclear bombs inadvertently falling through bomb bay doors; the accidental firing of a retrorocket on an ICBM; the vast dispersal of radioactive debris; and the loss of enriched fissile material and nuclear bombs (which are “still out there somewhere”).

These “nuclear accidents” –which the report defines as “unexpected event[s] involving nuclear weapons or nuclear weapons components”– have occurred over the Pacific Ocean (twice), over the Atlantic Ocean (twice), and over the Mediterranean Sea; they’ve happened on the territory of our allies in Spain, Greenland, England (presumably), Morocco (possibly), and another undetermined overseas base; and in the states of Arkansas, California (twice), South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana (twice), Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico (twice), Ohio (twice), South Dakota, Texas (twice), and Washington.

According to the DOD’s preface, most of these accidents occurred during “logistic/ferry missions or Airborne Alert flights by Strategic Air Command aircraft.” Airborne Alert was a program in which US nuclear-armed bombers loitered in airspace outside the Soviet Union to ensure that the US could hit the Soviets with a nuclear strike at any time. Airborne Alert was terminated in 1968 due to the implementation of ballistic missiles, rising costs, and –not least of all– nuclear accidents.

This DOD report proudly notes, that “There never has been even a partial inadvertent U.S. nuclear detonation despite the very severe stresses imposed upon the weapons involved in these accidents.”

Two Samples from the report [2 0f 32]: [atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b8fc0995f845.jpg[/atsimg]
Mark 6 nuclear bomb, similar to the one, which the United States Air Force inadvertently dropped on the Gregg family's garden in Mars Bluff, South Carolina.

In 1958 a B-47 “accidentally jettisoned an unarmed nuclear weapon” which fell and detonated on a garden owned by the Gregg family in Mars Bluff, South Carolina. The high explosive detonation created a crater 50-70 feet wide and 25-30 feet deep. The Gregg family’s home was completely destroyed (the DOD report recounted only “property damage”); five other homes and a church were also damaged. Fortunately, members of the Gregg family received only minor injuries.

Believe it of not: VIDEO: www.archive.org...)
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2nd Sample from Report: [atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d205f3c78ce2.jpg[/atsimg]A BOMARC A air defense missile.

In 1960 a 47-foot-long BOMARC air defense missile (which could be readied to launch within minutes) caught fire at McGuire Air Force Base near Trenton, New Jersey. According to the New York Times, the missile “melted under an intense blaze fed by its 100-pound detonator of TNT… The atomic warhead apparently dropped into the molten mass that was left of the missile, which burned for forty-five minutes.” The DOD report was less descriptive, stating merely that “nuclear safety devices acted as designed.”

Source: nsarchive.wordpress.com...

The report goes on with event after event of possible nuke devastation-at the hands of our own people. Absolutely CRAZY. This report is a must read and then we need to demand the info on events from 1980 onward!

This is unreal!

Worse is that it doesn't document up to the present day. I would love to see if we could get any further information related to these under the provisions of FOIA.

Unbelievable that there have been so many accidents.

One wonders how many of these went unrecorded in order to prevent the public finding out, or to prevent military officers from "being told off".

It also makes me wonder how many other accidents there have been around the world with other nations that have access to nuclear material/weapons.

I am stunned, shocked, and appalled.

If these people are so incompetent, then they shouldn't have access to the toys. Simple.

reply to post by dampnickers


You bring up some great points.

It really makes you wonder what happened after these 32 accidents. I am afraid there are probably more. Heck, I heard we use to have an arsenal of over 20,000 at one time. Just a matter of time before ....ooops.

Then it makes me wonder how many the other side(s) have had!

Hi,

Fact is there was also more than two thousand weapon tests including five hundred or so atmospheric tests so frankly speaking i do not see why the 'accidents' were hard to keep secret ( they had the political power to test them before their effects were anywhere near fully understood) or why anyone would spend much time uncovering that when you could spent time filing quite legitimate protest against testing on home soil and the like.

In addition people are living longer than they ever have in recorded history with better health than they have ever known and there is very little even a few accidental nuclear detonations are going to do about that.

So sorry to rain on your parade but i for one am no more afraid of nuclear weapons or power generation than i am surprised that accidents happen when national governments actually allow the operation of power plants along a profit motive. In fact i am rather more surprised that there have been so few with such ridiculously limited consequences.

I guess we can assume that we are just lucky, with such a utter lack of evidence for widely prevalent devastating health consequences, or we may eventually have to start considering that nuclear material/fallout effects are simply not as severe or as prevalent as we have been indoctrinated to presume.

Regards,

Stellar

reply to post by StellarX


I personally would prefer to be more than Just Lucky. I think the questions that need to be cleared up pretain more to Why Are You Moving Them So Much? After the first, say 5-10, why didn't you stop moving them? etc. you get the picture.

I do agree with you that there are bigger threats from the privately owned companies, such as 3 Mile Island and I have to agree that there are no REPORTEDLY known ill-effects on the local residence surrounding TMI.

I will admit the everytime I drive past TMI (about once a month or so) I get the creeps. Like it could blow at any second. I also have known many people that have worked there over the years. The Secruity is weak-IMO (even though they probably have some of the best weapons in the area). But a lot of that is because of it's history.

Originally posted by anon72
reply to post by StellarX

 

....Why Are You Moving Them So Much?....

Well for a start, you have to get them from the fabrication plant to the launch vehicles, be they aircraft, submarine or aircraft. Then in the case of submarines and missiles, the basis of their deterrent threat was mobility.....

But yeah, it's surprising that we've gotten so lucky with these accidents, though the frequency of them makes me wonder if the U.S were using the Marx brothers to transport them.

[edit on 6-5-2010 by aegis80]

reply to post by aegis80


i think this article clearly shows these events were not in the normal operatons and movement of these weapons.

But yes, that movement also resulted in something happening, I am sure. But they weren't out in the field with them, moving them around for no real good reason-other than to move them around.

I am looking for reports on more modern everts.

A thread was started this week in the Airplane forum about nuclear Broken arrow in Canada in the 1950. It is here

November, 1950 – Rivière du Loup, Québec, Canada – Non-nuclear detonation of an atomic bomb

* Returning one of several U.S. Mark 4 nuclear bombs secretly deployed in Canada, a USAF B-50 had engine trouble and jettisoned the weapon at 10,500 feet (3,200 m). The crew set the bomb to self-destruct at 2,500 ft (760 m) and dropped over the St. Lawrence River. The explosion shook area residents and scattered nearly 100 pounds (45 kg) of depleted uranium used in the weapon's tamper. The plutonium core (“pit”) was not in the bomb at the time.

from wiki

I remember reading more about this on an English website a few years ago. Now I only seem to find article in french. For those fluent in Moliere's language a more complete recollection of this story is here

This incident was only made public in 2000. I wonder if any studies were made to compare the cancer rate in people of this region. As I understand, blowing a nuclear bomb (even if not activated) scatters uranium over a vast distance.

reply to post by dampnickers


Im fairly sure that any recent incidents would be currently classified, due to the war on terror. Sure the older reports might have been declassified, but the more recent stuff wont be allowed into the public eye, until of course codes of practice and such have changed out of all recognition, thus making the declassification of such reports a safer option.
On point, this thread , these incidents and reports are staggering, but not suprising. People arent perfect. Why the hell you would want humanity to have the damned bomb , when they can barely keep themselves upright half the time.

Sounds like an excellant safety record to me. When you consider that nuclear armed aircraft were kept on station twenty-four hours a day for years at a time. I wonder how many accidents the Soviets have had?