The Washington Post reports that radioactive snails have been discovered at a site in southeastern Spain where three U.S. thermonuclear hydrogen bombs fell by accident 40 years ago during a midair collision between a U.S. B-52 bomber and a KC-135 refueling craft.
The B-52 bomber had been carrying a total of four hydrogen bombs prior to the collision that killed seven of its eleven crew members. Two of the hydrogen bombs fell and detonated on impact near the Mojacar coastal fishing village of Palomares, while a third evidently fell and landed without detonating. The thermonuclear explosions spread plutonium dust-filled clouds throughout the area. The fourth hydrogen bomb was lost at sea before being recovered 80 days later. According to the Brookings Institution, after the accidental double hydrogen bombing approximately 1,400 tons of topsoil and vegetation were removed from the area and shipped to the U.S. The fallout material was subsequently disposed of at the Savannah River Plant in South Carolina. Since 1966 the U.S. has helped pay for local residents in and around the crash site area to be monitored for signs of radiation poisoning.
Spain has advised local residents not to eat snails in the area, which are considered a local delicacy. The Washington Post reports that the recent discovery may trigger a new joint U.S.-Spain cleanup operation.
-Travis
Link to the story below.
Radioactive Snails Found at Crash Site in Spain (Washington Post)
Let's hope our politicians realise what NUCLEAR WEAPONS have to offer us if the arms race continued.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I've never heard about all of this. maybe a dumb question, but are there other places crashes like this have occured?
ReplyDeleteSome quick facts regarding the U.S. nuclear arsenal and its history, courtesy of U.S.govinfo.about.com:
ReplyDeleteTotal cost of the Manhattan project: (through August 1945)
$20 billion dollars
Total number of U.S. nuclear warheads and bombs built between 1945 and 1990:
More than 70,000 of 65 types
Number remaining in U.S. stockpile as of 1997:
12,500 (8,750 active, 2,500 contingency stockpile, 1,250 awaiting disassembly)
Number of nuclear warheads requested by the U.S. Army in 1956 and 1957:
151,000
Amount of plutonium remaining in U.S. nuclear weapons:
43 Metric tons
Number of thermometers which could be filled with mercury used to produce lithium-6 at the Oak Ridge Reservation:
11 billion
Number of dismantled plutonium "pits" stored at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas:
12,067 (as of May 6, 1999)
States with the largest number of nuclear weapons:
New Mexico (2,450), Georgia (2,000), Washington (1,685), Nevada (1,350), and North Dakota (1,140)
Money paid by the U.S. State Department to Japan following fallout from the 1954 "Bravo" test:
$15,300,000
Money paid to U.S. citizens under the Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act of 1990, as of January 13, 1998:
Approximately $225 million dollars (6,336 claims approved; 3,156 denied)
Total cost of the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) program, 1946-1961: (To design a nuclear-powered aircraft.)
$7 billion dollars
Total number of nuclear powered aircraft and hangers ever built:
0 and 1
First and last U.S. nuclear weapons tests:
July 16, 1945 ("Trinity") and September 23, 1992 ("Divider")
Estimated amount spent between October 1, 1992 and October 1, 1995 on nuclear testing activities:
$1.2 billon dollars to conduct 0 tests
Number of U.S. nuclear tests in Nevada:
911
Number of U.S. nuclear bombs lost in accidents and never recovered:
11
Nuclear warheads have fallen into the ocean on multiple occasions, particularly during Cold War. This CNN article (9/13/04) details the story of a U.S. hydrogen bomb that was accidentally dropped into the ocean in 1958 after a collision between a U.S. B-47 bomber and an F-86 fighter off the coast of Georgia. Link to the story below:
ReplyDeleteSeptember 13, 2004: Lost Nuclear Bomb Possibly Found (CNN.com)