[Corin Stormhands]

No doubt it drifted to an island in the South Pacific where it was nicknamed “Jughead.”

[theDentist]

I am no expert on nuclear ordinance, but it seems to me that such a weapon MUST be emitting radiation. And certainly we have improved our radioactivity detection devices since that age. So shouldn’t such devices be brought to the area and a search begun anew?

[ArrogantBustard]

the nuclear weapon he might one day be instructed to drop to start World War III.

I just love the bias ...

[PGR88]

If it was only a training mission and didn’t have its nuclear trigger, what is the point of carrying it besides the weight. For that they could have carried a 7600 lb steel or lead weight....

[OB1kNOb]

So that explains Godzirra.

[SeeSharp]

From the article...

Colonel Richardson is adamant that it is incapable of a nuclear explosion because it lacks the vital plutonium trigger.

So technically it wasn't even a nuclear weapon when it was lost. It won't be emitting any radiation either.

[Islander7]

It is safe and sound in a warehouse just outside Moscow.

[Billthedrill]

But his case has been vigorously contested by opponents who raise apocalyptic fears of a thermonuclear explosion which could destroy much of the US eastern seaboard.

That would be a pretty big nuclear explosion. Somebody's doing some serious hyperventilating here.

[hecht]

Emilio Largo has it

[SampleMan]

In his own mind, retired 87-year-old Colonel Howard Richardson is a hero...

Hmmm, is the reporter headed somewhere with this?

But to others, he is little short of a villain: the man who 50 years ago dropped a nuclear bomb in US waters, a bomb nobody has been able to find and make safe.

Which others? Who? I've read about this story for 20 years and never once heard anyone castigate him personnally.

...the nuclear weapon he might one day be instructed to drop to start World War III.

A U.S. first strike on the USSR, to be started by this Major and his trusty B-47. This reporter seems to have gotten some real secret info.

But his case has been vigorously contested by opponents who raise apocalyptic fears of a thermonuclear explosion which could destroy much of the US eastern seaboard.

A thermonuclear explosion that could destry much of the eastern seaboard????? Not even a 1000 megaton bomb could do that.

[Costumed Vigilante]

But to others, he is little short of a villain:

Those "others" probably consisting of the 1 disgruntled homosexual BBC news eunuch that wrote this tripe.

[3niner]

...it lacks the vital plutonium trigger.

But his case has been vigorously contested by opponents who raise apocalyptic fears of a thermonuclear explosion which could destroy much of the US eastern seaboard.

Such impenetrable stupidity is unbelievable! Without the "plutonium trigger" it's not even remotely conceivable that a "thermonuclear explosion" could occur, even when the bomb was brand new.

What's more, the light isotopes required for a thermonuclear explosion are barely radioactive, with relatively short half lives. They couldn't create a fusion explosion now, even if the bomb were complete and in good condition.

The only explosion risk is from the chemical explosives, and there is no significant radiation present to be released.

[tanknetter]

Fears have also been expressed that the bomb could be located and recovered by a terrorist group, and there are even some who believe that may already have happened.

More scaremongering. If the USAF and USN couldn't find it over the course of years, there's little possibility that a terrorist group could either. Especially considering that locating it and bringing it up wouldn't be a quick snatch/grab operation but something requiring dredging and lift equipment. The fishermen that fish that area (mentioned in the article) would be sure to notice something going on that they weren't up to speed on. And they'd call in the Coast Guard.

For reference, look at the effort required by that Clive Cussler group to locate and lift the CSS Hunley a few dozen miles North (off Charleston) from where this missing bomb is.