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Duct Tape, Nukes, And Other Handy Hints
From FNC..Workers dismantling an aging nuclear weapon secured broken pieces of high explosive by taping them together, federal investigators found. An explosion could have occurred, they said. Well, bombs exploding ARE kind of traditional, but tell me more! The incident was among several recent safety lapses at the Energy Department?s Pantex plant near Amarillo, Texas, noted by the independent Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. ..Is it just me, or do the words "safety lapses" and "nuclear" in close conjunction to one another give YOU the heebie-jeebies too? Last fall, workers taking apart another old warhead accidentally drilled into the warhead's radioactive core, forcing evacuation of the facility. ...Actually, all they found was Edward Teller's recipe for Chicken Paprikas... This month's unorthodox handling of the unstable explosive increased the risk that the technicians would drop it and set off a "violent reaction," the safety board said Tuesday in a letter to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. Such a reaction could have "potentially unacceptable consequences," board chairman John T. Conway said in the letter, which raised disquieting questions about safety at the Pantex plant. ...F**kin? DUH, Mister Chairman... About 250,000 people live within 50 miles of the Pantex plant, where the motto on its Web site is "Maintaining the safety, security and reliability of America's nuclear weapons stockpile." Nothing exploded, and no one was hurt. The National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the Energy Department's nuclear weapons programs, is investigating, spokesman Bryan Wilkes said Friday. "Safety remains a priority for us," Wilkes said. "We are working to address the issues in the letter." "...but it?s hard for us to do that, cover our asses, AND save our phoney-baloney jobs at the same time, so throw us a bone here, okay??" Safety board chairman Conway?s letter did not make clear whether the explosive had been separated at the time from the softball-sized chunk of plutonium that forms the pit, or trigger, of a thermonuclear warhead. "...and we ain?t tellin?, either." To prevent a thermonuclear blast, the pit would have to have been separated from the larger warhead. There?s actually a whole bunch of other things that have to happen in a precise order and fashion to get a thermonuclear yield, and these lunkheads weren't close to any of them. On the other hand, they could have spread nuclear material all over the break room - read on. If the explosive were still connected to the trigger, an explosion could have injured or killed workers and could have spread plutonium or other radioactive materials around the facility. The taping and removal of the explosive did not go as planned, and only quick thinking by the technicians prevented them from dropping the explosive, Conway wrote. "...that and the fact that it was apparently taped to Mister Dumbjohn's ass." Conway said taping the explosives together was one of several mistakes made by Pantex officials that risked an explosion. Pantex officials also played down the risk, Conway said, calling the cracks in the explosive and the fact that workers taped it together a trivial change in procedures. "...Normally we use string, bailing wire,and staples, which are a whole heck of a lot better than that muicilage we used to use." Jud Simmons, a spokesman for Pantex plant operator BWX Technologies Inc., did not return telephone messages on Friday. Good move, Jud. When you DO answer them, just tell ?em that you deny everything, demand counsel, and besides, it was some other nuclear weapons manufacturing plant. The pit's plutonium is surrounded by an explosive shell. When the explosives detonate, the plutonium is compressed and causes a nuclear explosion. In a thermonuclear weapon, that explosion sets off an even stronger nuclear blast. Basically, yes. Workers dismantling the pit in question found the explosive was cracked, which made it more unstable and easier to detonate, Conway wrote. Their solution was to tape together the cracked explosives and move them to another location. Of course, they STILL haven't mentioned whether or not the detonators were attached to this stuff. In his letter, Conway said other problems included: --Failing to consult the explosives' manufacturer to determine how unstable the cracked explosives might be;Conway's letter does not elaborate on what might have happened had the explosive detonated. Okay, anybody here NOT know what would have happened? Anybody?... The Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has an inspector stationed at the Pantex plant and at the nation's other nuclear weapons sites. Weekly reports by the Pantex inspector, William White, show several problems with safety at the plant, including flaws in the software designed to control the movement of nuclear and explosive materials around the site. White reported in October that Pantex technicians had made a mistake while dismantling a W62 warhead from a Minuteman missile. A drill damaged part of the warhead's nuclear core, prompting officials to evacuate the facility until experts determined that no radiation had leaked, White wrote. From my time in SAC, I remember Pantex having a distinctly lousy reputation for safety and reliability. These guys were not, repeat NOT going to set off a nuclear yield - they could not have possibly done that. What they could have done, and IMHO were awfully close to doing, was getting an HE yield out of the conventional detonators, which would have scattered nuclear material all over the damned place and definitely required some heavy duty cleanup. Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2004-01-24 |
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