Accidents Involving Nuclear Weapons

Here are some(not all) accidents that have involved nuclear weapons, from 1950-1980.

13 February 1950: Pacific Ocean, Off the Coast of British Columbia. A U.S. Air Force B-36 was en route from Elison AFB to Carswell AFB on a simulated combat profile mission. The weapon aboard the aircraft had a dummy capsule installed. After six hours of flight, the aircraft developed serious mechanical difficulties, forcing the shutdown of three engines. The aircraft was at 12,000 ft. Icing conditions complicated the emergency. Level flight could not be maintained. The B-36 headed out over the Pacific Ocean and dropped the weapon from 8000 ft. A bright flash occured on impact, followed by sound and shock wasves. Only the weapons high explosive material detonated. The aircraft was then flown to Princess Royal Island where the crew bailed out. The aircraft wreckage was later found on Vancouver Island.

22 May 1957: Kirtland AFB, New Mexico. a USAF B-36 was ferrying a weapon from Biggs AFB, Texas, to Kirtland AFB. At 1150, while approaching Kirtland at the low altitude of 1700 ft., the weapon accidently dropped from the bomb bay ripping away and taking the bomb doors with it. Crew members deployed weapon chutes, but apparently these did not fully retard the bombs fall bacause of the low altitude. The impact point was approximately 4 1/2 miles south of Kirtland AFB control tower. The intense explosion completely destryed the weapon and created a crater approx. 25ft. in diameter and 12ft. deep. Fragments and debris scattered as far as 1 mile from the impact point. The release mechanism locking pin was being removed at time of release.. It was standard procedure at that time for crews to remove the locking pin during takeoff and landing to allow for emergency jettison of the weapon if needed. Recovery and cleanup operations were conducted by Field Command, Armed Forces Special Wepaons Project. Radiological survey of the area disclosed no radioactivity beyond the lip of the crater. There were no health or safety problems. A nuclear detontaion was not possible.

17 January 1966, Palomares, Spain. A US B-52 and a KC-135 collided during a routine high altitude refueling operation. Both aircraft crashed near Palomares, Spain. 4 of the 11 crew members survived. The B-52 carried 4 nuclear weapons. 3 were recovered on the ground; on April 17, nearly 3 months later, one was recovered at sea. High explosive materials exploded on contact with the ground, releasing some radioactive material. The Soviets charged a "nuclear volcano" had been dropped into the ocean off the coast of Spain. Approx. 1400 tons of contaminated soil and vegatation were removed to the U.S. for storage at an approved site. Representatives of the Spanish Government monitored the cleanup.

19 September 1980 Damascus, Arkansas. During routine maintenance in a Titan II silo, and Air Force repairman dropped a heavy wrench socket, which rolled of a work platform and fell towards the bottom of the silo. The socket bounced and struck the missile causing a leak from the pressurized fuel tank. The missile complex and the surrounding area were evacuated. A team of specialists was called in from Little Rock AFB, the missiles main support base. About 8 1/2 hours after the initial puncture, fuel vapors within the silo ignited and exploded. The explosion fatally wounded one member of the team. 21 other USAF personal were injured. The missiles RV (recovery vehicle), which contained a nuclear warhead, was recovered intact. There was no radioactive contamination.

The Atomic bomb movie: Trinity and beyond?

In it is show as Ballistic missile carrying a nuclear warhead, explodes and burns in the lauch pad..
(This was nuclear test gone bad..)

Happened in 1950s, or early 1960s..

Trust me there have been plenty close calls for all users of anykinds of nuclear 'products' powerplants and weapons alike..

99,9% of those we havent heard a single word.

"Wild Trident Missile"

If im correct this is a USN submarine lauched ICBM with nuclear warheads..
(Could also be UK/Royal navy..)

This photo however is quite new..

As is the missile..

Imagine if this would have been a LIVE TEST with a NUCLEAR WARHEAD(S)!!!

And had the WARHEAD(S) detonated..

At least the SUBMARINE AND IST CREW, plus the SPECTATING VESSELS would be toast..

Originally posted by FULCRUM

"Wild Trident Missile"

If im correct this is a USN submarine lauched ICBM with nuclear warheads..
(Could also be UK/Royal navy..)

This photo however is quite new..

As is the missile..

Imagine if this would have been a LIVE TEST with a NUCLEAR WARHEAD(S)!!!

And had the WARHEAD(S) detonated..

At least the SUBMARINE AND IST CREW, plus the SPECTATING VESSELS would be toast..

As for this being a Trident Missile, I highly doubt it. As a US Navy Submariner on a Trident Submarine, we have never had a failed firing of a missle. You might want to look at maybe a French weapon or something else.

you left out the "tickling the dragon" accident that killed Louis Slotin

I've posted about nuclear accidents a while ago. Here's the stuff that I had.

1. On January 24, 1961, a B-52 on airborne alert developed
structural failure of the right wing over Goldsboro, North Carolina.
Two weapons separated from the aircraft during the breakup of the
plane at an altitude ranging from two thousand to ten thousand
feet. The bombs were both twenty-four-megaton bombs, which is
equivalent to twenty-four million tons of TNT. The total energy of
TNT released during World War II was three million tons. One
bomb crashed, and five of its six safety catches were triggered. Had
that bomb exploded, it would have destroyed much of North
Carolina.

2. On March 14, 1961, the second serious accident involved a
B-52 failure near Yuba City, California. All the crew bailed out at
ten thousand feet, except for the commander, who stayed with the
aircraft to four thousand feet, steering it away from populated areas.
Two nuclear weapons on board were torn from the aircraft on
ground impact. Luckily, the high explosives did not detonate.

3. On January 13, 1964, a B-52 crashed during severe
turbulence near Cumberland, Maryland, in isolated mountains.
The plane contained two hydrogen bombs.

4. On December 8, 1964, at Bunker Hill Air Force Base,
Indiana, another plane crashed into a B-58 on an icy runway. The
B-58 slid off the runway, and its left main landing gear struck a
concrete electrical manhole box, igniting the aircraft. Portions of
the five nuclear weapons on board burned. The report states that
contamination by radioactive material was limited to the immediate
area of the crash and was subsequently removed.

5. On January 17, 1966, over Palomares, Spain, a B-52 and a
KC-135 collided during a routine high-altitude air-refueling opera-
tion. Both aircraft crashed. The B-52 carried four nuclear weapons;
one was recovered on the ground and another from the sea on April
7, after extensive search and recovery efforts. High-explosive
materials from two of the weapons exploded on impact with the
ground, releasing large quantities of plutonium. Approximately
1,400 tons of plutonium-contaminated soil and vegetation over 640
acres were scraped up and imported to the United States in 4,827
steel drums, to be dumped straight into the ground at the Savannah
River waste-storage facility in South Carolina, where the average
rainfall is four inches per month. Plutonium is one of the most
carcinogenic, toxic substances known to man.

6. On January 21, 1968, over Thule, Greenland, a B-52
returning from Plattsburgh Air Force Base in New York crashed and
burned some seven miles southwest of the runway while approaching the base to land. The bomber carried four nuclear weapons, all
of which were destroyed by fire. Radioactive contamination
occurred in the area of the crash, which was on the sea ice, and
237 ,000 cubic feet of plutonium,contaminated ice, snow, and
water, with crash debris, were removed to an approved storage site
in the United States during a four'month operation.

7. The last declassified accident occurred in September 1980
at Damascus, Arkansas, when an Air Force repairman dropped a.
heavy wrench socket, which rolled off the work platform and fell
toward the bottom of a silo. The silo contained a Titan II missile
with a nine'megaton warhead. The socket bounced and struck the
missile, causing a leak from the pressurized fuel tank. About eight
and a half hours after the initial puncture, fuel vapors within the
silo ignited and exploded the liquid fuel. One man was killed;
twenty other people were injured. The nine'megaton hydrogen
bomb was catapulted hundreds of yards away and was found lying in
a field next to a grazing cow. Had this weapon exploded, its effect
would have been approximately 720 times greater than that of the Hiroshima bomb.

Here's an good site that lists all sorts of nuclear accidents.

www.nuclearfiles.org...

This is an article that explains nuclear power more clearly.

www.nuclearfiles.org...

Read and weap:

Link!

Its US missile alright..

From the pages of hardcore US militarists..



[Edited on 14-12-2003 by FULCRUM]

Originally posted by FULCRUM
Read and weap:

Link!

Its US missile alright..

From the pages of hardcore US militarists..

[Edited on 14-12-2003 by FULCRUM]

All that link says is a wild Trident missile, not definitive proof. Sorry....

Its a US page..

www.strategypage.com...

And they respect your (US) gov. (as they should..)

Proof:

www.strategypage.com...

US gov. monitors this site, and tells them to remove untrue/classified info about US/US ops.



Classification: FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Sir,
Please remove the photos of the M1 Abrams destroyed by mines. The photos are not cleared for public distribution.
Thank You,
LTC Chris Carnes



People dont post to there BS.

Its page for people like Seeker(of). (he has made numerous references to there, and i think that he is a member there..)
(people that want the facts and people that love US.)



*edit*

Oh yeah..

The frocking point:

It is Trident.

www.floridatoday.com...

A Trident 2 missile had its first launch from a submarine on March 21, 1989 and ended 4.5 seconds later. The rocket blew itself up after one of the engines was jammed to the side by the air pressure from the sub's launch tube. FLORIDA TODAY photo copyright � by Michael R. Brown. All rights reserved.



[Edited on 16-12-2003 by FULCRUM]