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 ...
No, the design was such that there would be no partial nuclear detonation either. At worst, a non-nuclear explosion might have occurred and dispersed nuclear material although the missile was in the launch tube so the explosion would have been partially contained.
I was a Minuteman missile launch officer at the time and it was a big deal. Partly because of the possible dispersion of nuclear material and partly because of the Broken Arrow, loss of a nuclear weapon asset.
Was thinking Clinton for a distinct reason at first: I thought the headline for a moment was about ‘a dropped WENCH’ who then proceeded to ‘blow up Arkansas’
The big problem was that the warhead was blown out of the silo, and nobody knew where it landed.
I read a very good book about this incident. Those Titan IIs were a might tetchy.
She was holding the wrench. ;)
He mentioned that there was only a very small chance of the warhead exploding. But the greater chance was of the casing to be ruptured, spreading radioactive material over a large area.
Titan II was liquid fueled: Aerozine and Nitrogen Tetroxide. That combination is storeable, but really nasty.
That’s what that book “Command And Control” said.
That’s from the Hot Shots Movie I believe.
I kind of like the History Guy, who usually make videos about even more obscure parts of history. Don't expect him to be an expert on nuclear weapons. This event was a big disaster.
1958 is the one that blew. 61 just buried and had to be dug out.
Plutonium 239 has a half-life of 24,000 years (meaning it isn’t all that radioactive), and it is an alpha emitter anyway which won’t penetrate your skin. Glen Seaborg, the man who discovered and spent a big chunk of his life studying Plutonium, lived to the ripe old age of 86. Also, there were seventeen years of nuke tests, many of them over the continental United States. So acting like one nuke going off is going to end the world is just hysterics.
People should learn to think. If it was all that easy to get a nuke to go off we wouldn’t have needed the Manhattan project to build one. That and the fact that there never has been a nuke accidentally set off. It is wickedly hard to get one to go off or the jihadis would be popping them off like firecrackers (probably most of the time in their own kitchens while they were trying to put it together.)
Jennifer Flowers?
Wait no, that’s dropped wench.
there was a mainstream tv documentary about this (seen on PBS)
Some where on the web there is an article of the early days of Russian plutonium making. There were no safety precautions - workers wore paper suits and handled the material with bare hands ... many lived long lives afterward.
And then there is the Science Guy (Bill Nye). Don’t get me started on him!
Don’t be a buzz cop. One sneeze and the whole world would be gone
There is no way the incident would have caused a nuclear explosion. (And even if it had caused one, there is no way it would have "blown up Arkansas.") That said, the incident was serious, killing one, and injuring many others.
somebody oughta make it into a movie...
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.