Nuclear bomb possibly found (Unarmed Device dropped in ocean off Georgia during Cold War)

CNN ^ | 9/13/04 | CNN

[gutshot]

Device dropped in ocean off Georgia during Cold War WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Government experts are investigating a claim that an unarmed nuclear bomb, lost off the Georgia coast at the height of the Cold War, might have been found, an Air Force spokesman said Monday.

The hydrogen bomb was lost in the Atlantic Ocean in 1958 following a collision of a B-47 bomber and an F-86 fighter.

A group led by retired Air Force Lt. Col. Derek Duke of Statesboro, Georgia, said in July that it had found a large object underwater near Savannah that was emitting high levels of radioactivity, according to an Associated Press report.

...... Smolinsky said if the bomb were found, a decision would have to be made about whether to try to recover it or leave it where it is. .....

The 7,600-pound, 12-foot-long thermonuclear bomb contained 400 pounds of high explosives as well as uranium.

.....

The United States lost 11 nuclear bombs in accidents during the Cold War that were never recovered, according to the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

An estimated 50 nuclear warheads, most of them from the former Soviet Union, still lie on the bottom of the world's oceans, according to the environmental group Greenpeace. ......

[Robert A Cook PE]

Fat man was not a thermo-nuke anyway.

Simple implosion-type radial Pu bomb.

[Robert A Cook PE]

The thermo in thermo-nuke is the fission in a fission-....

[EricT.]

After spending 2 years sweating intense security precautions around these, this picture shows up in Time magazine. It's a B-61. Pretty cool weapon. FAS.org says it has a cool feature called "dial-a-yeild". Seems there are a few different settings to fully customize your thermonuclear explosion in order to fit your needs perfectly.

[RadioAstronomer]

Right, if the core is missing than its just a very large chunk of U238 and totally harmless except the HE shell.

U₂₃₅. 238 is not a fissile material.

[COEXERJ145]

Right, if the core is missing than its just a very large chunk of U238 and totally harmless except the HE shell.

That's about it. Uranium 238 is relatively harmless. Once the U-235 has been removed, the remaining material is U-238 which is also better known as depleted uranium.

[RadioAstronomer]

I've never heard of H bombs described as being "thermonuclear" before,

Here is the deal:

(Note to moderators; nothing said in this post is even remotely sensitive)

Fusion takes place with the lighter elements due to something called "the curve of binding energy". Other than in a supernova, even stellar processes cannot fuse any element heavier that F_e55/56.

Geek alert:

The weak force is the force that induces beta decay via interaction with neutrinos. Not only would the Sun not burn without this force A star can “burn” by a nuclear fusion process. Three of those processes are proton-to proton fusion, helium fusion, and the carbon cycle. Here is an example of proton-to-proton fusion, which is the process our own sun uses: (two protons fuse -> via neutrino interaction one of the protons transmutes to a neutron to form deuterium -> combines with another proton to form a helium nuclei -> two helium nuclei fuse releasing alpha particles and two protons). The weak force is also necessary for the formation of the elements above iron. Due to the curve of binding energy (iron has the most tightly bound nucleus), nuclear forces within a star cannot form any element above iron in the periodic table. So it is believed that all higher elements were formed in the vast energies of supernovae. In this explosion large fluxes of energetic neutrons are produced which produce the heavier elements by nuclei bombardment. This process could not take place without neutrino involvement and the weak force.

Fission on the other hand takes place at the higher end of the atomic chart. You may note that an odd nucleus is less tightly bound and is more prone to the release of neutrons when struck. This is why U₂₃₃, U₂₃₅, and Pu₂₃₉ are fissile material while U₂₃₈ is not. In fact, depleted Uranium is nothing more than U₂₃₈ with the U₂₃₅ removed. It is still Uranium.

An "H" bomb is called such because it uses a Hydrogen fusion process that releases energy in the form of heat, gamma and other products known as a nuclear detonation. Thusly, a thermonuclear device is a Hydrogen bomb (fusion weapon) while a fission only weapon, such as the ones used in WW2, are called Atomic bombs.

[RadioAstronomer]

That's about it. Uranium 238 is relatively harmless.

Except, 238 never was used in nuclear devices. 235 was. However, Plutonium is the material of choice now.

[GladesGuru]

"Could raise it"????????????????

Take a quick google search of sub bottom profilers and then you will know it can be done.

Now the question is - by whom?

[COEXERJ145]

Uranium 238 is used in certain weapons as the tamper on the second stage and/or the third stage if the weapon is a three stage design.

And while most weapons do use plutonium, some still do us uranium 235. The B-53 bomb, currently our highest yield weapon, uses uranium instead of plutonium. I'm not sure if all the B-53's have been retired but that process was underway a few years ago.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Good summary.

[RadioAstronomer]

Fair enough! :-)

[Robert A Cook PE]

Tamper?

Would you consider that a reflector?

[Robert A Cook PE]

I suspect that the "by whom?" question is what caused it to be accurately "found" recently.

Once the US knows where it actually is, then keeping track of it is easier.

I'm not entirely convinced (since it was such a shallow burial, and it could be recovered at low cost if you weren't worried about safety) that we "really, really, really" knew where it was until recently.

[COEXERJ145]

This should answer your question. If it doesn't, I'll need to dig through my books, papers, etc to get a more detailed explanation.

[Calpernia]

>>>Geek alert

Hey Geek alert. That statement sounds a bit negative. The point of that statement is what makes FR so unique. We have a vast amount of area specific knowledge available to freepers like, us dumb blondes.

Your point was in your post, that the said GA bomb couldn't go off by itself without a serious of chained events to make it 'dangerous'. If I read that right; then what about the 'broken arrows' on our soil vs. sea. What if 'a bomb/missile/or such hit a broken arrow on our dirt. Would that improvise for the 'chain of events' needed to be affective?

::this freeper loves geeks! In all areas of expertise::

[Robert A Cook PE]

I'm cool. Don't need any details.

BS, NE, 1978. USN, 78-88.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Hmn.

Let me use an analogy, OK?

A diesel engine compresses air and diesel fuel in the cylinder, the mixture heats up, and it burns. The burning gasses expand, and push the cylinder down...

Engine turns, gears turn, axle turns, truck goes down highway. Right?

OK. So, if a nuclear weapon could blow up (go critical) by being dropped from an aircraft, then I should be able to "jump start a diesel truck by dropping it off the Empire State Building.

After all, I'm just going to "compress" the diesel fuel in the tank when it hits the ground, right?

[Calpernia]

>>>I suspect that the "by whom?" question is what caused it to be accurately "found" recently

The GA broken arrow has been known for years. Location and all. The 'found recently' is jouranlistic bullpucky. It has become a recent area of interest due to the fact that it showed up in AQ emagazines and articles on Pravda.

[COEXERJ145]

Oh now you tell me. LOL :-)

[Robert A Cook PE]

By the way, ain't no such thong as a dumb blonde.

Might be a couple that aren't informed yet however.

(Probably a few running around that are a bit "mentally underloaded" though perhaps.)