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14 Apr, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Where do (defueled) US submarine nuclear reactors go to die? Trench 94 in the 218-E-12B burial ground at the Hanford Reservation in Washington State. Once full (>100 reactor compartments), it will be filled with clay and maintained and monitored for decades if not centuries. Image
Here's a more recent unannotated photograph showing several dozen additional reactor compartments in the trench. Image
And here's a photograph by Robert Del Tredici taken from inside the trench in 1998 which shows the scale of these massive structures: Image
For more about Trench 94 and the process of decommissioning nuclear submarines and transporting their defueled reactor compartments to Hanford, see this self-published 2015 essay: explorermagazin.de/boote/trench94… Image

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Stephen Schwartz Profile picture
12 Apr
Starting today in 1982 in "Doonesbury," Mark, B.D., Bernie, Zonker, Mike, and Boopsie gather in Walden College's computer lab for a computer-generated nuclear war game, reflecting real-world concerns about the Reagan admin's arms buildup and plans to fight and win a nuclear war: Image
April 13, 1982: Bernie explains the rules for the nuclear war game, which begins with a false alarm, surprising Mark. Image
April 14, 1982: The nuclear war game continues. With Soviet/Warsaw Pact troops massing on the border between East and West Germany, Mike makes a fateful decision. Image
Read 7 tweets
Stephen Schwartz Profile picture
13 Feb
Today in 1950, the crew of a B-36 bomber on a 24-hour nonstop simulated nuclear strike combat mission from Eielson AFB, Alaska, to Carswell AFB, Texas, suffered engine trouble off western British Columbia and jettisoned an unarmed Mk-4 atomic bomb before abandoning the aircraft.
The bomb, which contained 5,000 pounds of conventional high explosives but not its plutonium capsule, was set to detonate at 1,400 meters. The crew later reported they saw it explode above the ocean, about 50 miles north of the town of Bella Bella on Hunter Island.
At five minutes past midnight (Feb. 14), as the aircraft flew over Princess Royal Island, the 16 crewmembers and one passenger bailed out. Despite three of six engines being shut down, the plane flew on autopilot another 350 kilometers before crashing inland into Mount Kologet.
Read 5 tweets
Stephen Schwartz Profile picture
10 Feb
The fifth person through the door behind Vice President Pence in this video is his military aide carrying his duplicate nuclear "Football," which—just like the briefcase that follows the president 24/7—follows the vice president everywhere s/he goes.
Earlier that afternoon, a C-SPAN camera captured a glimpse of a different military aide carrying Pence's "Football" through Statuary Hall after the Joint Session of Congress adjourned to consider Republican objections to counting Arizona's electoral votes:
This article has the clearest video yet of Vice President Pence's military aide carrying his duplicate nuclear "Football" while hurriedly evacuating the Senate chamber ahead of the rapidly advancing insurrectionist mob on January 6: washingtonpost.com/investigations…
Read 4 tweets
Stephen Schwartz Profile picture
24 Jan
OTD 60 years ago—less than four days after President John F. Kennedy's inauguration—a B-52G bomber on airborne alert over North Carolina suffered a massive fuel leak, caught fire, and exploded approaching Seymour Johnson AFB. As it broke up, two 3.8-Mt B39 Mod 2 H-bombs fell out.
As the weapons broke free, three of four arming safety devices in one of the bombs were activated, causing it to run through all but one step of the arming sequence as it plunged to earth.
Only a single "simple, dynamo-technology, low voltage switch" kept it from detonating.
Read 12 tweets
Stephen Schwartz Profile picture
19 Jan
THREAD: Tomorrow afternoon—unlike in 1953, 1957, and 1961—nuclear weapons will not be featured in the post-inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. And that's as it should be. But let's go to the wayback machine for a look at those past displays of firepower.
In 1953, a demonstration model of the massive M65 280-millimeter atomic cannon rolled down Pennsylvania Avenue and in front of the White House for President Dwight D. Eisenhower's inaugural parade. It was tested four months later at the Nevada Proving Ground.
Eisenhower's 1957 inaugural parade featured the Air Force's Matador and Snark cruise missiles as well as the Army's Corporal short-range ballistic missile.
Read 6 tweets
Stephen Schwartz Profile picture
19 Jan
Between them, Wyoming and Texas have 34 Minuteman III ICBMs and about 100 warheads (plus 20,000 plutonium cores from retired warheads stored at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo). What would happen to these if secession actually happened? rawstory.com/republicans-se…
ICBMs can't be relocated and moving 20,000 plutonium cores anywhere else would be a logistical and security nightmare, if not altogether impractical. Plus, Pantex is the only US facility for assembling, disassembling, and maintaining nuclear bombs and warheads.
In fact, In fact, except for 44 ICBMs in Colorado and 72 in Nebraska, all US land-based and air-based nuclear weapons are in solid "red" states: Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, and North Dakota have 600 warheads/bombs, 300 Minuteman III ICBMs, 200 ALCMs, 46 B-52Hs, and 20 B-2As.
Read 6 tweets

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