nuclear-news

Glitches in nuclear weapons systems are cause for alarm

“It is yet another indication of the risk associated with having these types of weapons around,”

Missile Mishap Revives Alarm Over Nuclear Arsenal, AOL News, Joseph Schuman, (Oct. 27) — Computer glitches, hardware failures and unexplained communication outages happen all the time. But when the affected systems control nuclear-armed missiles, it gets a little scary.

That’s why Saturday’s brief malfunction at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, disconnecting 50 intercontinental ballistic missiles of the 450-ICBM-strong U.S. arsenal from their human controllers, has raised concerns just two years after a Defense Department panel said there had been “an atrophy of the Air Force’s nuclear mission.”
“It is yet another indication of the risk associated with having these types of weapons around,” said Stephen Young, a senior analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, which advocates a reduction in the atomic arsenals of the U.S. and other nuclear-armed states.

In the event of a nuclear emergency, the military could have re-established command and control of the missiles through separate airborne systems, but underground missileers — like those romanticized in Cold War-era movies like “War Games” — are supposed to be on full alert at all times…..

“We’ve never had something as big as this happen,” a military officer briefed on the incident told The Atlantic.

But the Air Force has experienced much bigger and far more alarming mishaps with its nuclear arsenal, to the point that two years ago Gates, under President George W. Bush, fired both the secretary of the Air Force and the service’s chief of staff……….Missile Mishap Revives Alarm Over Nuclear Arsenal

October 29, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, plutonium