Posted on 06/25/2008 4:10:38 PM PDT by blam
Nuclear missiles could blow up 'like popcorn'
By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
Last Updated: 8:59PM BST 25/06/2008
A design flaw in Britain's nuclear arsenal means that warheads could set off a chain reaction "like popcorn" if they were accidentally dropped, according to Ministry of Defence documents.
More than 1,700 warheads are affected by the problem which would cause them to explode one after another, an effect known as "popcorning."
A typical Trident nuclear missile contains three to six warheads, and some submarines carry up to 24 missiles, meaning the potential for disaster could be huge.
Defence companies try to prevent accidental explosions of warheads by designing them to be "singlepoint safe" which means that a sudden knock at a single point should not detonate the plutonium core.
The typical scenario would see the weapon being dropped from a crane while being loaded on or off a submarine.
However, a nuclear-weapons safety manual drawn up by the MoD's internal nuclear-weapons regulator, and declassified last month, argues that this standard single-point design might not be enough to prevent "popcorning".
The manual, seen by the New Scientist, says that warheads should be capable of resisting multiple simultaneous impacts which "would contribute to the prevention of popcorning and should be a design objective".
It also recommends replacing the highly sensitive explosive that surrounds the warheads' plutonium cores because a single knock may not detonate the core, but could set off the explosive.
Less-sensitive explosives are available but they are heavier and bulkier than those currently in use so the warheads would have to be redesigned.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I’ve got an old James Brown DVD here. After “Popcorn” comes “Licking Stick.”
The only solution I see is to launch them at Iran before they accidently detonate.
All of them.
I COULD catch AIDS and die an awful death too. With my lifestyle and age, that’s a very remote possibility. I’m thinking the chances of this nuclear scenario playing out is equally a very remote possibility.
TicketMaster? StubHub? eBay?
I would think that a Trident warhead going off on the dock or on the sub deck would totally fubar anything and everything in sight, and no mechanical safety design could withstand a nuclear fireball a few yards away. I would think that a warhead going off in the "Sherwood Forest" launch tubes would vaporized everything instantly, so how could it be physically possible to safety the other warheads as they are being vaporized?
I guess I need to read up on designing thermonuclear-proof-at-50-feet hardware.
so don’t drop ‘em!
1700 atomic warheads that could go off at any minute? Whats the problem? Why does Britain have 1700 warheads?
Why not? I trust them.
I think this article is overstating things.
Maybe they would go off like Pop-Tarts or Toasters Strudels, but not popcorn. For that they would need to be near cellphones.
LOL! I’m gagging.
‘Why not? I trust them.”
Yeah ignore the fact they are being taken over by the muzzies.
The Ministry of Defence is the last place I expect Muzzie infiltration. I suspect British commanders would be sailing their vessels to Australia and Canada before it comes to that.
or maybe like
Obviously, they need warning labels on their warheads:
Dropping nuclear warhead could be hazardous to humanity.
Do not lubricate outside of warhead.
Rub your hands on yhour pants before attempting to carry warhead.
Scratch yourself BEFORE picking up warhead.
Loud popping sounds should be considered warnings of the Apocolypse.
One of the problems that the DoD tried to address during the Cold War was that of ‘fratricide’, or the tendency of a detonating warhead to prevent later arriving warheads from exploding properly. This suggests that any Syop would have to launch ballistic missiles & cruise missiles in waves and have the targets spaced out during each wave so that 1 nuke wouldn’t influence another.
I would think that a dropped Trident detonating would probably not cause a chain of nuclear detonations. Of course 1 would be bad enough.
I wonder what kind of warheads the Brits are sticking on their Tridents? Could it be a US-design?
SYOP = SIOP
Don’t be so sure. Like America, they are having a tougher and tougher time finding young native citizens man enough to wear the uniform. Not too long ago, they were actively recruiting homeless persons (vagrants in other words) and have opened the ranks to sodomites.
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