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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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 Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2013 8:22 pm Post subject: America almost nuked itself in 1961 |
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http://news.msn.com/us/nuclear-bomb-nearly-exploded-over-nc-in-1961-paper
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A nuclear bomb nearly exploded in 1961 over North Carolina that would have been 260 times more powerful than the device that devastated Hiroshima, according to a declassified document published in a British newspaper on Friday.
The Guardian newspaper said the document, obtained by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser under the Freedom of Information Act, gave the first conclusive evidence that the United States came close to a disaster in January 1961.
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one of the two bombs behaved exactly in the manner of a nuclear weapon in wartime, with its parachute opening and its trigger mechanisms engaged. Only one low-voltage switch prevented a cataclysm.
Fallout could have spread over Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and even New York City, the paper said, threatening the lives of millions of people.
In the document, Parker Jones, a senior engineer in the Sandia National Laboratories responsible for the mechanical safety of nuclear weapons, concluded that "one simple, dynamo-technology, low-voltage switch stood between the United States and a major catastrophe."
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When the bomb hit the ground, a firing signal was sent to the nuclear core of the device and it was only the final, highly vulnerable switch that averted a disaster. |
Drunks, children, and the United States of America, everybody. |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2013 10:15 pm Post subject: Re: America almost nuked itself in 1961 |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| Only one low-voltage switch prevented a cataclysm. |
Waiting for the next hollywood blockbuster "The man who flipped the switch" |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2013 11:28 pm Post subject: |
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| The information is incomplete. It's one expert engineer's word against other experts. We see this all the time in controversies. We're not seeing any additional information on the nature and reliability of the final switch. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 8:11 am Post subject: |
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It was a Freedom of Information Act request. Do you know why the information was incomplete?
BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT DECIDED TO ANSWER THE REQUEST IN THAT FASHION. |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 9:05 am Post subject: |
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When Bill Clinton was the governor of Arkansas in 1980, a worker dropped a metal tool inside a buried silo housing the most powerful nuclear missile the United States had ever built.
The 3lb socket ripped open a tank, and thousands of gallons of fuel began leaking from the 103ft Titan II missile, which was fully armed with a thermonuclear warhead. The resulting explosion, says Eric Schlosser, author of Command and Control, “could have destroyed the state.”
“The socket fell about seventy feet, bounced off part of the silo, hit the missile, and tore a hole in its metal skin. Thousands of gallons of highly explosive rocket fuel began to pour out. The Air Force was suddenly confronted with a problem nobody had ever faced before.”
“The Titan II was the largest intercontinental ballistic missile ever built by the United States. And on top of it was the most powerful thermonuclear warhead the US ever put on a missile.”
Officials raced to homes within a five mile radius - and said to householders, “Don’t take time to close the doors - just get out.”
At 3.01am, technicians gave up trying to plug the leak, and began climbing out. The fuel exploded, blasting off the missile silo’s 750ft concrete cover.
One worker died, 21 others were injured. The warhead was reported to have been hurled hundreds of feet - but it didn’t go off. It was the second major nuclear incident that week |
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/new-book-reveals-secret-history-of--near-miss--accidents-with-h-bombs-092827045.html#k9H7FO7
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| “It took almost twenty years for the American military to put locks on nuclear weapons so that they couldn't be used by unauthorized personnel - that seems incredible now,” says Schlosser. |
Sleep well children. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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Likely they were false flag attempts gone awry, but don't worry as they're bound to be more later.
I sort of joke as these events can likely be attributed to human stupidity, but seriously the current administration's attempts at whipping up the sheeple has, (at least lately, thankfully), been a giant abortion.
Still, Nancy Graham is pushing for some sort of anti-congressional approval for our Dear Leader to go ahead and launch against Iran.
These people are out of their minds. They will get their war because that's the script, and good luck to everyone who hasn't been promised an underground bunker with a jacuzzi filled with senate page-boys. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 8:12 pm Post subject: |
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This whole lovely affair came about as a result of the wedding of GE and the Japanese gov't/TEPCO, and the IAEA, and a bunch of other organizations filled with people who should be swinging from lamp-poles, and so we're all screwed and this is why I have lost faith in government and why it drives me nuts that certain posters on this site consistently want to get into the mental masturbation of semantics and what basically amounts to shit that JUST DOESN'T MATTER!! AAHHH!!!
Anyway, enjoy your weekend. |
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