nuclear-news

Nuclear speak about nuclear weapons accidents

When two nukes crashed, he got the call, Orange County Register, 31
Dec 12,  First of two parts: After two nuclear bombs fell out of a
plane in 1961, the U.S. turned to Jack ReVelle. Read Part 2.    By
KEITH SHARON  In the U.S. military’s
euphemistic lexicon of nuclear warfare, there are four terms no one
wants to hear. A “dull sword” is a minor incident involving a nuclear
weapon. A “bent spear” is a breach in the handling of a nuclear
weapon.
An “empty quiver” is a nuclear weapon that has been stolen or lost.
And then there is a “broken arrow,” a nuclear weapon that has somehow
gone awry. According to the book “Broken Arrow: The Declassified
History of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Accidents,” published in 2008, the
United States government has publicly acknowledged 36 broken arrows in
history.
Only one of those involved the potential detonation of two megaton
nuclear bombs on U.S. soil. Only one of those could have wiped out
half the state of North Carolina and, in the process, triggered a
nuclear war.
That broken arrow involved a guy named Jack ReVelle…..
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/revelle-381835-nuclear-bombs.html

January 3, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA