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40 Years Ago, the US Lost a Nuclear Bomb

Posted by kdawson on from the chrome-dome-down dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "A BBC investigation has found that in 1968 the US abandoned a nuclear weapon beneath the ice in northern Greenland after a nuclear-armed B52 crashed on the ice a few miles from Thule Air Base. The Stratofortress disintegrated on impact with the sea ice and parts of it began to melt through to the fjord below. The high explosives surrounding the four nuclear weapons on board detonated without setting off the nuclear devices, which had not been armed by the crew. The Pentagon maintained that all four weapons had been 'destroyed' and while technically true, investigators piecing together fragments from the crash could only account for three of the weapons. Investigators found that 'something melted through ice such as burning primary or secondary.' A subsequent search by a US submarine was beset by technical problems and, as winter encroached and the ice began to freeze over, the search was abandoned. 'There was disappointment in what you might call a failure to return all of the components,' said a former nuclear weapons designer at the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory. 'It would be very difficult for anyone else to recover classified pieces if we couldn't find them.'"

7 of 470 comments (clear)

  1. Hey, 50 years ago, they lost one, too! by Ihlosi · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tybee_Bomb

    And it's far more conveniently located (somewhere off the coast of Georgia). No need to go diving somewhere in the Arctic!

    1. Re:Hey, 50 years ago, they lost one, too! by Richard_at_work · · Score: 5, Informative
      Also -
      • Goldsboro, North Carolina - nuclear weapon lost when B-52 broke up mid-air
      • Off Whidbey Island, Washington - nuclear depth charge lost when aircraft crashed
      • Over the Mediterranean Sea - B-47 lost without trace carrying two nuclear weapons
      • USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14) in the Pacific Ocean - an A4E armed with a hydrogen bomb rolls off the deck of the carrier in 16,000ft of water

      Quite a few nuclear weapons have been lost over the years.

    2. Re:Hey, 50 years ago, they lost one, too! by Ihlosi · · Score: 5, Informative

      There's also the Palomares incident,

      Well, they eventually accounted for all of the bombs. The guy who claimed salvage rights ... well, that's pretty fscking brilliant.

  2. Re:Experimental nuclear waste storage? by jsoderba · · Score: 5, Informative

    Thermonuclear bombs are composed of a small amount of mildly radioactive uranium-235 and tritium, and larger amounts of minimally radioactive uranium-238 and stable lithium deuteride. The fission products that make up the most dangerous form of radioactive waste are far more dangerous, so this bomb would not provide much useful data about waste disposal.

    In any event we don't really need more research. We already know that the best solution is to put it in a geologically stable and dry mountain.

  3. Not the only one by toby · · Score: 5, Informative

    In 1966, a nuclear armed B52 crashed over Palomares Spain, scattering radioactive material from multiple bombs, each 100 times more powerful than those which destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

    The most serious reported accident in the U.S. Military's nuclear history took place in Palomares, Spain on Jan. 17, 1966 when a B-52 loaded with four nuclear bombs suffered a mid-air collision with a KC-135 refueling plane. All four bombs were ejected from the B-52 in the crash. One was recovered on the ground and a second from the sea after a long and difficult search. However, the high explosive packages of the other two bombs detonated on impact with the ground. While the nuclear payloads of the bombs did not detonate, over 1,400 tons of surrounding soil and vegetation were contaminated with radioactive materials. The US conducted an extensive cleanup of the area under the scrutiny of the Spanish government.

    --
    you had me at #!
  4. Not that rare, unfortunately by the_other_chewey · · Score: 5, Informative

    To this day, the USA alone have admitted losing 92 nuclear bombs.

    This doesn't count those that were recovered in sometimes very expensive operations:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palomares_hydrogen_bombs_incident

  5. Re:Imperialism Gone Mad by SirWhoopass · · Score: 5, Informative

    Really? The "main international aggressor for the past 60 years"?

    Yeah. I can't think of a single instance of any other nation doing anything aggressive over the past sixty years.

    And we all know about those massive amounts of territory the US has added to its borders since 1948.