Sometimes you just get lucky.
Posted on 12/18/2018 4:21:20 PM PST by NRx
The History Guy remembers the 1980 Titan II Explosion. In 1980, a dropped wrench created a crisis inside a nuclear missile silo in Damascus, Arkansas. (appx 12 mins)
(Excerpt) Read more at youtu.be ...
Gee, we would not have had the Clintons if it did.
I was thinking the same thing...
this “History Guy” is a buffoon. Nuclear warheads have a complex fuze with a firing mechanism that must be precisely timed, they don’t explode from an external shock as if they were nitroglycerin. Arkansas was at greater risk from Bill Clinton than it was from the missile warhead.
Good call!
Same here.
Read Command and Control by Eric Schlosser.
Sometimes you just get lucky.
Exactly.
That was one of the many tests that were done during the Cold War.
Now if that Titian II had been loaded with the “George” device, it probably would have detonated.
George was a technical experiment to test Tritium and was loaded with 4x critical mass of U235.
Highly dangerous but it was the only time they did anything so foolish.
“this “History Guy” is a buffoon. Nuclear warheads have a complex fuze with a firing mechanism that must be precisely timed, they don’t explode from an external shock as if they were nitroglycerin. Arkansas was at greater risk from Bill Clinton than it was from the missile warhead”
You are right that it is unlikely for the warhead to explode at the DESIGN YIELD. The HE could however partially detonate and partially defligrate producing a partial nuclear yield and scattering of really bad fallout. Think science and not propaganda.
anything that may have removed the Clintoon menace would have definitely been worth considering...?
You are so correct. The W53 warhead was safe. The conventional explosives didn't even detonate let alone even creating a "fizzle."
So many people shoot their mouths off about this accident and have no knowledge of the weapon or the Titan II weapon system.
What this really shows is that some of our vaunted weapon systems were highly unsafe. This is something that the program managers need to take responsibility for. There are strong safety reviews in nuclear capable systems which if followed would week out these unsafe situations.
Allowing a circumstance where a single technician could set something on fire with a single accident is not something that is permitted. (The situation that is legal would require at least three independent faults to result in such a fire.)
Wrench would need to be teathered, (tech does not do)
Teather would need to be witnessed by a second tech and signed off (missing second tech signature)
Tech would have to drop wrench from a sufficient height to cause the accident. OK?
What this really shows is that some of our vaunted weapon systems were highly unsafe. This is something that the program managers need to take responsibility for. There are strong safety reviews in nuclear capable systems which if followed would week out these unsafe situations.
Allowing a circumstance where a single technician could set something on fire with a single accident is not something that is permitted. (The situation that is legal would require at least three independent faults to result in such a fire.)
Wrench would need to be teathered, (tech does not do)
Teather would need to be witnessed by a second tech and signed off (missing second tech signature)
Tech would have to drop wrench from a sufficient height to cause the accident. OK?
Misread title and clicked link thinking it was about a dropped wench.
People get a thrill out of scaring themselves with the idea that they were about to be blown up. The idiot press encourages this. And the Left is always looking to stoke anti nuke hysteria.
We are buzzkillers by telling them that they weren’t in any danger.
Yeah, that operational nuke dropped in SC lit off the HE and left a nice crater. That was after falling for a good ways.
... is a ranch.
The “History Guy” is implying the potential for a nuclear explosion by speaking of blowing up Arkansas.
A more realistic worry was a fuel or conventional explosion that would break the warhead and scatter nuclear material around some farmland.
The big fuel explosion provided a real world test with the warhead remaining intact. My guess is that the warhead designers were not surprised.
What year was that one?
There was a 1961 Goldsboro NC B-52 crash with 2 nukes on board.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.