US to dismantle last of its most powerful nuclear bombs -- a year ahead of schedule

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AMARILLO, Texas - The last of the nation's most powerful nuclear bombs - a weapon hundreds of times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima - is being disassembled nearly half a century after it was put into service at the height of the Cold War.

The final components of the B53 bomb will be broken down Tuesday at the Pantext Plant near Amarillo, the nation's only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility. The completion of the dismantling program is a year ahead of schedule, according to the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, and aligns with President Barack Obama's goal of reducing the number of nuclear weapons.

First put into service in 1962, when Cold War tensions peaked during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the B53 weighed 10,000 pounds and was the size of a minivan. According to the American Federation of Scientists, it was 600 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, at the end of World War II.

Since it was made using older technology by engineers who have since retired or died, developing a disassembly process took time. Engineers had to develop complex tools and new procedures to ensure safety.

"We knew going in that this was going to be a challenging project, and we put together an outstanding team with all of our partners to develop a way to achieve this objective safely and efficiently," said John Woolery, the plant's general manager.

read: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/508462


from Spencer Ackerman at Wired:

“It’s the end of the era of monster weapons, if you will,” says Hans Kristensen, who directs the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of the American Scientists . . .

First brought into the U.S. nuclear stockpile in 1962, the B-53 was so big because it was so dumb. With poor precision mechanisms for finding a target — “Its accuracy was horrendous,” Kristensen says — what it lacked in smarts it made up in strength. The nukes that vaporized Hiroshima were a mere 12 kilotons; the B53 provided nine megatons — 9,000 kilotons — of destructive power.

And it was designed to burrow deep. The B53 wasn’t just any old megabomb. It was the first bunker buster. U.S. nuclear doctrine called for it to be delivered over suspected underground Soviet command-and-control facilities. The dumb bomb wouldn’t destroy them so much as it would destroy everything remotely near it, leaving — literally — a smoldering crater. That was the U.S. plan for “victory” in a nuclear war right up until the implosion of the Soviet Empire.

The America’s nuclear arsenal remains enormous; the U.S. will still have 1,500 atomic weapons, by the time the latest U.S.-Russia nuke treaty runs its course. But with the end of the B-53 comes a belated end to a Cold War relic.

read: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/b53-dismantled/


Press release from the NNSA:

Officials from the Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration and Pantex will join elected officials to commemorate the dismantlement of the last B53 nuclear bomb.

This is an event of national significance and marks an important milestone in the dismantlement efforts by NNSA and Pantex. Media personnel will be escorted to a normally inaccessible area of the plant where they will be able to view and take video of a B53 trainer, which was used to train technicians who worked on the B53 program, and is identical on the exterior to a functional B53. Media will also be able to record the detonation of high explosives from a B53 at one of the plant’s firing sites. Afterward, high-level officials from DOE, NNSA and Pantex will be available for interviews.

The elimination of the B53 is a significant step for President Obama’s nuclear security agenda. In a major address in Prague in April 2009, President Obama laid out a broad nuclear energy, including his goal of reducing the number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. and around the world. At the time he said, “We will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, and urge others to do the same.” The dismantlement of the last remaining B53 ensures that the Cold War system will never again be part of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.

read: http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2011/10/23/last-cold-war-era-b53-nuclear-weapon-dismantlement-commemoration-set-for-oct-25/

[G_j]

1. good!

:applause: