1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,479 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:16,240 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm the host Job and Strickland. 3 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:19,280 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the 4 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,480 Speaker 1: tech are you? So here on tech Stuff, we've actually 5 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:26,239 Speaker 1: covered the subject of nuclear weapons a few times. So 6 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: way back on April fourth, twenty twelve, Chris Pollette, my 7 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:32,839 Speaker 1: original co host, and I we did an episode on 8 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 1: how nuclear weapons work. I'm probably going to go over 9 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:38,559 Speaker 1: some of that same material again in this one, but 10 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: you know, it's been more than a decade, so hopefully 11 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: that's okay. In twenty seventeen, I did an episode titled 12 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: Close but No Nuclear War about the handful of times 13 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: circumstances could have precipitated into what we in the eighties 14 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: would have referred to as the Big One. But thankfully, 15 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: cooler heads prevailed we did not have a nuclear war, 16 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 1: and I got to thinking about nuclear weapons again because I, 17 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: like a lot of other people, watched the Fallout streaming series. Now, 18 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: I've played a couple of the Fallout games, a few 19 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 1: of them in fact, and I really enjoy them. There's 20 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 1: some of my favorite games, particularly Fallout New Vegas, which 21 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:18,839 Speaker 1: I think for a lot of people is the favorite. 22 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: And then I was curious about the streaming series and 23 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: no spoilers, But overall, I really enjoyed the adaptation. It's 24 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: not a direct adaptation of any particular game, though it 25 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: does contain elements that are found in several of the 26 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,760 Speaker 1: other games, and I thought that generally speaking, they did 27 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: a really good job with it. I got a few quibbles, 28 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:44,960 Speaker 1: but you know, nothing major. Now. The entire setting for 29 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: the Fallout series, it's a world that's trying to rebuild 30 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: itself after a nuclear war that this nuclear war had 31 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: happened like two hundred years in the past, and this 32 00:01:56,440 --> 00:02:02,560 Speaker 1: is the fallout of that conflict that you are thrust into. 33 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: And it got me thinking about nuclear weapons. So today 34 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: I want to talk about lost nuclear weapons. So we're 35 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: going to talk about the half dozen times the United States, 36 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: you know, misplaced a nuclear bomb and wasn't able to 37 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,240 Speaker 1: get it back, which you know, that's an awful lot 38 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: of times when you're talking about weapons capable of truly 39 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: massive amounts of destruction. And also, this would just be 40 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: six incidents that we know about. In fact, I'll end 41 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: the episode with one that is disputed as a potential seventh. Now, 42 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: I'm not saying that there are a ton more than 43 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:44,800 Speaker 1: six incidents in which the United States lost a nuclear 44 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: weapon and was unable to retrieve it. I have no 45 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: way of knowing that it could be that there's more. 46 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: It could be that six or seven is exactly how 47 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:54,800 Speaker 1: many there are. It is possible, though, I think that 48 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 1: the public hasn't learned about certain cases that may have happened. 49 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:02,679 Speaker 1: I mean, it's turns out the United States military and 50 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: the Department of Defense isn't super eager to spread information 51 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,240 Speaker 1: about lost nuclear weapons for reasons that are both I 52 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:14,960 Speaker 1: think totally legitimate and some that are probably not. Now, 53 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: there have been way more than just six accidents with 54 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 1: nuclear weapons. If we're talking about, you know, big accidents, 55 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: there have been at least thirty two. That's just the 56 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:29,360 Speaker 1: officially acknowledged ones. In the United States. We have this 57 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: charming little name for incidents in which essentially the United 58 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: States loses control of a nuclear weapon, and that nickname 59 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: is called broken Arrow. That nickname insisted long before John 60 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: Travolta and Christian Slater made a movie based on the 61 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: premise of a thermonuclear weapon going walk about Hands up 62 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: if you actually remember that film, it's one that I 63 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 1: have seen. I would say that as action films go, 64 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: it's not great. It's not terrible, but you know, not great. Now, 65 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: before we get into the whip sees, let's talk a 66 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: little bit about how nuclear weapons actually work from a 67 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: very high level, and in some ways, at least an 68 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 1: initial part of a nuclear weapon detonation is has got 69 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:17,719 Speaker 1: some similarities to the way that nuclear fission power plants work. Now, 70 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,280 Speaker 1: obviously with a power plant, we want to have a 71 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: nuclear reaction that is really well controlled. And in nuclear weapons, 72 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 1: the whole goal is to kind of get the sucker 73 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: to go into a chain reaction that you know, goes well, 74 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,279 Speaker 1: not ballistic, that's the wrong the wrong word, but you know, 75 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: out of control. Nuclear weapons, however, do not just use fission. 76 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 1: That's just part of it, at least for modern thermonuclear weapons. 77 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:46,280 Speaker 1: That's not the whole entirety of the explosion. Detonating a 78 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: nuclear weapon these days actually involves three explosive processes. So 79 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:56,360 Speaker 1: you got your bog standard chemical based explosives, just your 80 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: regular non nuclear explosives. This is what kind of initiates 81 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: the whole sequence of events and the purpose of these 82 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:07,920 Speaker 1: explosives is not to blow up the nuclear material. It's 83 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:12,800 Speaker 1: to compress it, to put intense pressure on that material 84 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: and compact it down in order to get to what 85 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:19,360 Speaker 1: we call critical mass. So the nuclear material that is 86 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:24,680 Speaker 1: typically in nuclear weapons is either highly enriched uranium, like 87 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:28,560 Speaker 1: a more than ninety percent content of uranium two thirty five, 88 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,520 Speaker 1: for example, or plutonium more than ninety three percent plutonium 89 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:36,240 Speaker 1: two thirty nine. Now, the special thing about these particular atoms, 90 00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: you two thirty five andonium two thirty nine, is that 91 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: they belong to a subset of atoms that will break 92 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:46,320 Speaker 1: apart under certain circumstances. Sometimes they decay on their own 93 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:48,600 Speaker 1: and they break apart, but they can also be induced 94 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:52,359 Speaker 1: to break apart. They are fissile, in other words, because 95 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: they can undergo fission, they can split. Now, not all 96 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: fissile atoms will cause a chain reaction, but uranium two 97 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:05,080 Speaker 1: five and plutonium two thirty nine totes can. And when 98 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: they are induced to break apart, these atoms don't just 99 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:12,040 Speaker 1: split into smaller atoms. They also release a tremendous amount 100 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:14,480 Speaker 1: of energy. You know, stuff like X rays and gamma rays. 101 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 1: You get a ton of light and heat. They also 102 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:21,919 Speaker 1: shoot out excess neutrons. Now, if you've got a mass 103 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 1: of this stuff and those atoms are packed close enough together, 104 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: then some of these escaping neutrons can collide with these 105 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:35,360 Speaker 1: other atoms and then induce the exact same reaction. Those 106 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: atoms will then split apart, then they'll release neutrons. So again, 107 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: if the material is packed closely enough, these neutrons can 108 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 1: start this chain reaction, and that's what makes this escalate 109 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 1: very quickly. If the material is not very close together, 110 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:53,280 Speaker 1: then the neutrons can miss the other atoms, and you know, 111 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:55,600 Speaker 1: you will get a release of energy, but it'll be 112 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:58,920 Speaker 1: a limited release. You won't get this chain reaction. That's 113 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: really the devast aiding part of nuclear weapons. So it's 114 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 1: a very specific approach to weaponizing this energy. You know, 115 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:12,120 Speaker 1: that chain reaction, that runaway reaction is really what you 116 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: want to really cause massive destruction. Now, the very first 117 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: nuclear weapons, which really the atomic weapons is what we 118 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:22,480 Speaker 1: would really call them. They relied solely on fission to 119 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,960 Speaker 1: release destructive energy upon a target. You add Little Boy, 120 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: which was the nickname for the first such atomic bomb, 121 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:33,360 Speaker 1: and Little Boy had a hollow cylinder made from uranium 122 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: two thirty five that upon detonation of a charge explosive 123 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: would then shoot toward a target plug of U two 124 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: thirty five. So you can think of it like a 125 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 1: target and a bullet. So this little bullet of you 126 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:49,320 Speaker 1: two thirty five gets shot to collide with a target 127 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 1: of U two thirty five. Now, separately, these two masses 128 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:57,760 Speaker 1: of uranium two thirty five did not have enough mass 129 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 1: to maintain fission, but upon on collision, the two would 130 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: form critical mass that could maintain this fission reaction. Now, 131 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:12,240 Speaker 1: the second bomb, fat Man, did not use uranium two 132 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: thirty five. It used plutonium. The scientists who are working 133 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 1: on fat Man could not get the gun type method 134 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: that worked for uranium two thirty five based bombs to 135 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:25,280 Speaker 1: work with plutonium, so they had to come up with 136 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 1: something else. In fact, originally the idea was that there 137 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: was going to be a thin Man bomb because it 138 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:35,320 Speaker 1: would use this gun approach that the Little Boy did. 139 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:38,800 Speaker 1: But because they could not get that to work, they 140 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: had to go with explosives, conventional explosives that would compress 141 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:47,240 Speaker 1: the plutonium in order to initiate the fission chain reaction. 142 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:52,080 Speaker 1: That implosion explosive charge meant that the bomb had to 143 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: be much larger than was anticipated originally when they want 144 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:57,720 Speaker 1: to do the gun method. Thus you get fat Man 145 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 1: because it's bigger around. The plutonium atoms would get squeezed 146 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 1: together tightly enough to reach critical mass, and then you 147 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:07,839 Speaker 1: could get the same sort of fission reaction. However, as 148 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: I mentioned, modern nuclear weapons also have a fusion component 149 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:15,400 Speaker 1: to them. Fusion is the atomic process of two lighter 150 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:19,000 Speaker 1: atoms fusing together to make a heavier atom. This is 151 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:21,440 Speaker 1: what goes on in the Sun in which hydrogen is 152 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:24,840 Speaker 1: built into helium at a temperature of millions of degrees. 153 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:29,280 Speaker 1: So the fission reaction in a modern thermonuclear weapon can 154 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:33,720 Speaker 1: also be called the primary blast or primary charge, and 155 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:37,480 Speaker 1: the fusion component is the secondary charge. So the lighter 156 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:42,920 Speaker 1: atoms used for fusion are typically hydrogen and hydrogen isotopes. 157 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: And just to be clear, the actual process inside and 158 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:49,560 Speaker 1: exploding thermonuclear device gets way more complicated than what I'm 159 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: covering here. There are different elements in both the primary 160 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:57,199 Speaker 1: and secondary charges, but that would require a full episode 161 00:09:57,200 --> 00:09:59,720 Speaker 1: by itself. In fact, we did one back in twenty twelve, 162 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:02,160 Speaker 1: so we've spent enough time on the basics of how 163 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 1: these bombs work. Now we do have to talk about 164 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:08,320 Speaker 1: what happens when these bombs detonate. Now, I mentioned that 165 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:12,319 Speaker 1: fission and fusion as well will release an enormous amount 166 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:15,520 Speaker 1: of energy. The energy takes lots of different forms. We're 167 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 1: talking heat and light and radiation. And the blast creates 168 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:23,480 Speaker 1: an incredible shock wave, So you get this massive increase 169 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:27,080 Speaker 1: in air pressure that's like a wrecking ball slamming into 170 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:32,600 Speaker 1: everything outward. The explosion creates this enormous fireball, and that 171 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: fireball is about as hot as the surface of the 172 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:39,400 Speaker 1: Sun is initially. Remember again, fusion is how the Sun shines, 173 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:43,840 Speaker 1: So this is like igniting a miniature sun in Earth's atmosphere, 174 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:48,400 Speaker 1: and that heat vaporizes everything within that fireball and pushes 175 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:51,320 Speaker 1: it upward into the atmosphere, and that stuff forms the 176 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:55,719 Speaker 1: iconic mushroom cloud that we associate with a nuclear explosion. Now, 177 00:10:55,760 --> 00:11:00,880 Speaker 1: among all that stuff is radioactive material from the bomb itself, 178 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: and this kind of mixes and bonds with other things 179 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:07,640 Speaker 1: that are vaporized in that explosion. These tiny particles condense 180 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 1: and we end up with radioactive dust that eventually is 181 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:12,679 Speaker 1: heavy enough to start to fall back to earth. This 182 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:15,960 Speaker 1: is the so called fallout. It's the stuff that can 183 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:20,280 Speaker 1: contaminate things like soil and water and cause problems for ages. Now, 184 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:25,400 Speaker 1: obviously we're talking tremendous immediate destructive power, not to mention 185 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: the problems of dealing with radioactive material that will remain dangerous. 186 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:33,800 Speaker 1: Most of it actually kind of degrades fairly rapidly, like 187 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:38,439 Speaker 1: within a couple of weeks you get down to survivable conditions. 188 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:41,720 Speaker 1: There's this thing called the seven ten rule that means 189 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:46,560 Speaker 1: the amount of radiation reduces tenfold for every sevenfold increase 190 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:50,720 Speaker 1: in time. So the really dangerous stuff that can be 191 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:55,400 Speaker 1: decreased dramatically within a few hours to a day, like 192 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:58,680 Speaker 1: within a day, fallout is going to give off more 193 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:01,559 Speaker 1: than eighty percent of its inner energy, and within again 194 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 1: two weeks you're down to you know, survivable ambient radiation. Now, 195 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:10,480 Speaker 1: to be clear, radioactive contamination is not immediately life threatening too. 196 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:16,000 Speaker 1: Like again we have this perception that this is all 197 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:20,440 Speaker 1: a death sentence immediately. That's not necessarily the case. One 198 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:24,520 Speaker 1: thing that can you can do if you were, you know, 199 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 1: near a nuclear blast, not obviously outside of the blast 200 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 1: zone itself, because if you're near that then that's that's 201 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:34,640 Speaker 1: game over, right. If you're a few miles out, however, well, 202 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:38,800 Speaker 1: you can decontaminate yourself. You can strip off the you know, 203 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 1: whatever clothing you were wearing when you were exposed to 204 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:45,840 Speaker 1: the nuclear dust, and you can take a shower with 205 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 1: mild soap and and you can decontaminate yourself. Of course, 206 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:51,800 Speaker 1: it is hard to figure out a way to do 207 00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:56,680 Speaker 1: all this without tracking a radiated dust into the area 208 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:00,200 Speaker 1: where you're taking your shower, but that actually could be 209 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 1: a pretty effective way to get rid of any radioactive 210 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:07,240 Speaker 1: material that has settled on you, which gives a bit 211 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:09,800 Speaker 1: of a different picture than what we get with fallout, right, 212 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:13,319 Speaker 1: in which the world remains this radioactive wasteland two hundred 213 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:16,920 Speaker 1: years after the conflict. And you know, radiation is this 214 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:21,840 Speaker 1: invisible thing, this destructive, invisible thing, and it's really scary. 215 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:24,800 Speaker 1: And in fact, one of the really big challenges that 216 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:29,320 Speaker 1: experts have identified as far as nuclear weapons go is 217 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:32,160 Speaker 1: how do you communicate to the public what to do 218 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:34,720 Speaker 1: in the wake of a nuclear event, whether it's an 219 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 1: accident or an attack or whatever, so that folks don't 220 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 1: go and make the problem even worse. And to be clear, 221 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: a nuclear blast is truly terrifying. It's awful. And again, 222 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:48,600 Speaker 1: if you are closer, like within a few miles of 223 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:52,600 Speaker 1: the blast zone, your chances of survival are incredibly small. 224 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 1: But on the flip side, it is different from the 225 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:59,840 Speaker 1: way it's depicted in shows and games like Fallout. Okay, 226 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,000 Speaker 1: we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, 227 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,160 Speaker 1: we're going to start talking about the actual Broken Arrow 228 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: events and why these remain these kind of scary incidents 229 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,720 Speaker 1: that can every few years come back and fire up 230 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:17,439 Speaker 1: imaginations and make people really anxious. That's not my goal, 231 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,040 Speaker 1: but we are going to talk about these things. First though, 232 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:33,560 Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break to thank our sponsors. All Right, 233 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:37,880 Speaker 1: We're going to now talk about the broken Arrow events 234 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: in which some sort of misha involving at least one 235 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: nuclear weapon have happened, or, as defined by the Department 236 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:47,200 Speaker 1: of Defense, an incident in which at least one of 237 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:51,200 Speaker 1: the following things occurred. And I'm quoting from a declassified 238 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:54,280 Speaker 1: document from nineteen eighty one here, So here are the 239 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:59,680 Speaker 1: parameters for a broken Arrow event. Accidental or unauthorized launching, firing, 240 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:03,520 Speaker 1: or use by US forces or supported allied forces of 241 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:07,080 Speaker 1: a nuclear capable weapon system which could create the risk 242 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: of an outbreak or war. Nuclear detonation, that one seems 243 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:15,000 Speaker 1: like it's no brainer, right, Non nuclear detonation or burning 244 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:19,160 Speaker 1: of a nuclear weapon or radioactive weapon component, including a 245 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:24,120 Speaker 1: fully assembled nuclear weapon, an unassembled nuclear weapon or radioactive 246 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:29,920 Speaker 1: nuclear weapon component, radioactive contamination, seizure, theft or loss of 247 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:34,680 Speaker 1: a nuclear weapon or radioactive nuclear weapon component, including jettisoning, 248 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:39,120 Speaker 1: public hazard actual or implied. Those are the parameters. Now, 249 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:41,400 Speaker 1: as I mentioned earlier, there have been thirty two of 250 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 1: these on record, with six incidents in which the US 251 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 1: of A has been unable to retrieve the loss nuclear weapon. 252 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 1: And again, this is the Pentagon's official tally. I have 253 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 1: no way of knowing if that number is actually accurate. 254 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:57,560 Speaker 1: In fact, a letter from the Defense Atomic Support Agency, 255 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: which has since evolved into the Defence Threat Reduction Agency, 256 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:05,560 Speaker 1: and both of these are part of the overall Department 257 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 1: of Defense, it lists more than two hundred and ten 258 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 1: pages worth of accidents and incidents between the years nineteen 259 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:16,120 Speaker 1: fifty seven and nineteen sixty seven alone, just a little 260 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:18,920 Speaker 1: more than a decade here. But to be clear, some 261 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:22,720 Speaker 1: of these cases are fairly minor in the grand scheme 262 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:27,680 Speaker 1: of things. Incidents involving improper handling or transportation are on there, 263 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:30,360 Speaker 1: for example, So I guess it really comes down to 264 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:34,160 Speaker 1: how you define a big problem. Also, these thirty two 265 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 1: incidents that are detailed in this Department of Defense document 266 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:42,560 Speaker 1: happened between nineteen fifty and nineteen eighty, and again that 267 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:45,600 Speaker 1: makes you wonder have there been any more that have 268 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 1: happened in the forty plus years since. However, we also 269 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:52,200 Speaker 1: have to acknowledge that there has been a massive change 270 00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: in the technology around nuclear weapons in that time because 271 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:57,920 Speaker 1: in the old days, you know, when we talked about 272 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: nuclear weapons, we were talking about bomb that would be 273 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:03,400 Speaker 1: delivered by an aircraft or maybe a little later by 274 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:07,760 Speaker 1: a submarine. These days, we have intercontinental ballistic missiles and such, 275 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,680 Speaker 1: so it's a different story and there are fewer opportunities 276 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:15,760 Speaker 1: to misplace a bomb, although a nuclear armed submarine could 277 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:18,400 Speaker 1: still be such an incident. So we're going to talk 278 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:21,359 Speaker 1: about the six times America lost a nuclear weapon and 279 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:23,840 Speaker 1: couldn't get it back. And first up is the very 280 00:17:24,080 --> 00:17:27,600 Speaker 1: first of the incidents listed in that declassified letter. So 281 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,399 Speaker 1: the letter starts with an incident in which the bomb 282 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:35,560 Speaker 1: was not recoverable. It happened on February thirteenth, nineteen fifty, 283 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:38,520 Speaker 1: so a day before Valentine's Day. Talk about a bummer. 284 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:41,960 Speaker 1: A crew was piloting a B thirty six bomber as 285 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 1: part of a simulated combat mission. They were flying from 286 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: an Air Force base in North Starborough, Alaska. They were 287 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:53,520 Speaker 1: headed all the way to Carswell Air Force Base in 288 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:57,240 Speaker 1: Fort Worth, Texas, which is a journey that's like three 289 00:17:57,280 --> 00:18:00,679 Speaker 1: thousand miles more than that. So, according to the the 290 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:03,720 Speaker 1: weapon carried by the crew had a quote unquote dummy 291 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:07,400 Speaker 1: capsule in it, so, in other words, it lacked the 292 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: actual nuclear core needed to make it a viable thermonuclear weapon. 293 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:16,000 Speaker 1: It did still have at least some radioactive material inside it, 294 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:19,600 Speaker 1: just not like the two charges needed to create the 295 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:24,240 Speaker 1: big fusion boom. Six hours into the flight, the aircraft 296 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:27,119 Speaker 1: started to have some pretty serious problems, big enough to 297 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:29,520 Speaker 1: force the crew to shut down three of the B 298 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:32,720 Speaker 1: thirty six's engines. Now, the B thirty six had a 299 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:36,600 Speaker 1: ton of engines, Like initially the earliest B thirty six 300 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:41,919 Speaker 1: models had just six piston engines driving propellers, right, but 301 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:43,840 Speaker 1: you had six of them, so shutting down three you 302 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:47,520 Speaker 1: still have half of your engines left. Later on, they 303 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:50,840 Speaker 1: had four jet engines added to it as well, so 304 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: like the later B thirty six aircraft were ten engine planes. 305 00:18:55,840 --> 00:19:00,000 Speaker 1: That's kind of incredible. Now, on top of these engine problems, 306 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,160 Speaker 1: the aircraft also had issues with ice building up on 307 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 1: the plane's wings, and the aircraft was at twelve thousand 308 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:11,120 Speaker 1: feet altitude, and the military determined that the conditions were 309 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: beyond risky considering the presence of a nuclear weapon on 310 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:17,280 Speaker 1: board the aircraft, So the call was made for the 311 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:20,560 Speaker 1: aircraft to deviate from its flight path, to fly out 312 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:23,600 Speaker 1: over the Pacific Ocean and to drop the bomb with 313 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:27,119 Speaker 1: the dummy capsule at eight thousand feet. Now, according to 314 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 1: the declassified letter quote, a bright flash occurred on impact, 315 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:35,160 Speaker 1: followed by a sound and shockwave. Only the weapons high 316 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:39,800 Speaker 1: explosive material detonated the crew aboard. The aircraft bailed out 317 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 1: over Princess Royal Island, and the aircraft itself crashed on 318 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:47,880 Speaker 1: Vancouver Island. And that is our first lost bomb out 319 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:51,359 Speaker 1: of the way. The second time America lost a nuclear 320 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 1: bomb was on March tenth, nineteen fifty six. That we 321 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:58,720 Speaker 1: apparently went six whole years without another totally lost bomb 322 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:02,800 Speaker 1: is nice because, as we will soon see, sometimes we 323 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:05,960 Speaker 1: were looking at incidents that were happening a year or 324 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,919 Speaker 1: two apart, or sometimes in the same year. Anyway, a 325 00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:12,840 Speaker 1: group of four aircraft, including a B forty seven Stratojet, 326 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:16,120 Speaker 1: were en route from McDill Air Force Base in Florida 327 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:21,960 Speaker 1: to quote and overseas air base end quote which overseas airbase, 328 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:24,600 Speaker 1: I honestly don't know. It's not mentioned in the Department 329 00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:28,080 Speaker 1: of Defense document. Anyway. The B forty seven carried quote 330 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:32,679 Speaker 1: two nuclear capsules in carrying cases in the quote, and 331 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:35,040 Speaker 1: that sounds a lot like a suitcase bomb, right, But 332 00:20:35,119 --> 00:20:38,240 Speaker 1: according to the DoD, a nuclear detonation of this stuff 333 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:42,040 Speaker 1: was impossible, like it did not have the initial charges 334 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:45,200 Speaker 1: that would work in order to actually create a nuclear bomb, 335 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:48,359 Speaker 1: but it was the material that could be used inside 336 00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:51,200 Speaker 1: a nuclear weapon. So I guess it's a good thing 337 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:54,600 Speaker 1: that it wasn't like a bomb raay to explode or anything. 338 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:59,720 Speaker 1: And tragically the aircraft and its crew were lost above 339 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:03,680 Speaker 1: the terranean c The accident happened as the aircraft were 340 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:07,040 Speaker 1: all changing altitude because they had to go through a 341 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,800 Speaker 1: mid air refueling operation, so they had been at a 342 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:14,119 Speaker 1: cruising altitude much higher up, but in order to refuel, 343 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: they needed to descend to fourteen thousand feet between them, 344 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:22,720 Speaker 1: and fourteen thousand feet was a solid cloud formation, according 345 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:25,680 Speaker 1: to the document, so descending through this meant that your 346 00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:28,960 Speaker 1: visibility was obviously really limited. The base of the clouds 347 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: was somewhere at the altitude of fourteen thousand, five hundred feet. 348 00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:36,720 Speaker 1: The B forty seven, carrying this case filled with nuclear capsules, 349 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:41,240 Speaker 1: never made contact with the refueling tanker, and despite extensive searches, 350 00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:43,600 Speaker 1: the military was not able to locate the vehicle or 351 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:46,760 Speaker 1: the crew piloting it, or, for that matter, the carrying 352 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: case with the nuclear capsules inside of it. So that's lost. 353 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:55,720 Speaker 1: Bomb number two. Next up, we have an incident that's 354 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:58,359 Speaker 1: very close to home for me, well sort of close 355 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:02,000 Speaker 1: to home for me. It is the so called Tybee bomb, 356 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:05,680 Speaker 1: which happened two years after the incident we just talked about. 357 00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:09,520 Speaker 1: On February fifth, nineteen fifty eight, a B forty seven 358 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:12,720 Speaker 1: took off from Homestead Air Force Base in Florida, and 359 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:16,119 Speaker 1: it was on a simulated combat mission. The B forty 360 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:19,080 Speaker 1: seven carried a nuclear weapon that, according to the DoD 361 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:22,680 Speaker 1: did not contain a nuclear capsule inside of it, which 362 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:25,000 Speaker 1: you know, that's a good thing, but the weapon still 363 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:28,640 Speaker 1: had plenty of conventional explosives which would have caused an 364 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:31,840 Speaker 1: issue right like cause again you've got the chemical based 365 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: explosives in there too. And as it turned out, the 366 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:37,560 Speaker 1: story that the bomb only carried a dummy trigger would 367 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 1: later be disputed, and it was said that in fact, 368 00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:45,040 Speaker 1: the bomb aboard the B forty seven was, as Emperor 369 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:50,240 Speaker 1: Palpatine of Star Wars Fame would say, fully operational. So 370 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:53,320 Speaker 1: around three point thirty in the morning, while flying over 371 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 1: coastal Georgia, calamity struck. A pilot flying an F eighty 372 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 1: six Saber Jet fighter was descending from a higher altitude 373 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:06,480 Speaker 1: and did not see the B forty seven flying beneath him, 374 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:08,600 Speaker 1: Like he wasn't showing up on his radar. He didn't 375 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:12,480 Speaker 1: notice it, and so he descends and collides with the 376 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:16,439 Speaker 1: B forty seven. This is like one of those crazy accidents, 377 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:20,480 Speaker 1: like it really required a wild coincidence for this to happen. 378 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:24,600 Speaker 1: But these two aircraft did collide, and Lieutenant Clarence Stewart, 379 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:27,160 Speaker 1: who was the pilot of the Saber Jet, was able 380 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:30,199 Speaker 1: to eject from his vehicle and he safely landed in 381 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:32,960 Speaker 1: a swamp, which, you know, not the best place to 382 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:35,960 Speaker 1: land if you're not really a big fan of leeches 383 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:39,720 Speaker 1: and snapping turtles and snakes and the occasional alligator, all 384 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:43,159 Speaker 1: of which are native to this part of Georgia, but 385 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:46,000 Speaker 1: still is a good ending for him considering that one 386 00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:49,440 Speaker 1: of the wings of his saber Jet got completely ripped off, 387 00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:51,240 Speaker 1: so the fact that he was able to eject and 388 00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:55,359 Speaker 1: land safely was a pretty phenomenal thing. The B forty 389 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:59,000 Speaker 1: seven was in slightly better shape than the saber Jet, 390 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:02,320 Speaker 1: but it was still very damaged. So the pilot attempted 391 00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:05,320 Speaker 1: to make an emergency landing at Hunter Air Force Base 392 00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:08,239 Speaker 1: in Georgia, but he was not able to get the 393 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 1: air speed of the aircraft down enough to make us 394 00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: safe landing, so the call was made to jettison the 395 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 1: bomb before attempting a landing in order to avoid having 396 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:22,200 Speaker 1: a high explosive going off in an American Air Force base. 397 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,520 Speaker 1: So the pilot was able to jettison the bomb off 398 00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:30,000 Speaker 1: the coast of Tybee Island, which again is off coastal Georgia, 399 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:33,399 Speaker 1: And I've been to Tybee Island several times in fact. 400 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:36,399 Speaker 1: But yeah, they dropped the bomb not too far from 401 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:39,480 Speaker 1: where the Savannah River lets out, and the bomb sank 402 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:42,000 Speaker 1: it to the ocean, and the Department of Defense wasn't 403 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:45,840 Speaker 1: exactly sure where it landed. And fortunately the bomb did 404 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:49,359 Speaker 1: not detonate. And that really is fortunate because in nineteen 405 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:53,560 Speaker 1: ninety four, a nearly thirty year old document that was 406 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:58,720 Speaker 1: submitted to Congress's Joint Committee on Atomic Energy was declassified. 407 00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:02,520 Speaker 1: So it was declassified in ninety four. The actual document 408 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:06,400 Speaker 1: dated from nineteen sixty six, and in this nineteen sixty 409 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:09,199 Speaker 1: six letter, the claim was that the bomb that was 410 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,440 Speaker 1: dropped off Tybee in fact did have a nuclear capsule 411 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:16,000 Speaker 1: inside of it, that the DoD was not being truthful 412 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:19,639 Speaker 1: when it said that there was no nuclear capability of 413 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:22,919 Speaker 1: the weapon, that in fact, it had contained plutonium and 414 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,080 Speaker 1: was capable of full detonation. So there's this dispute here 415 00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:29,280 Speaker 1: between that nineteen sixty six letter from the Secretary of 416 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:31,720 Speaker 1: Defense that was sent to the Joint Committee on Atomic 417 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:35,159 Speaker 1: Energy and the official documentation from the Department of Defense 418 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:39,000 Speaker 1: about the thirty two Broken Arrow incidents. So the military 419 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:41,560 Speaker 1: searched the area for the bomb for a couple of months, 420 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:46,679 Speaker 1: but they weren't able to track down this missing nuclear weapon. 421 00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:50,639 Speaker 1: So the question is there a functional well probably not 422 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:54,439 Speaker 1: functional now, but was there a functional nuclear weapon buried 423 00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:57,560 Speaker 1: in the silt off the coast of Tybee Island, complete 424 00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:00,280 Speaker 1: with a plutonium capsule? And I don't know the answer 425 00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:05,080 Speaker 1: to that, but, boy, Hettie, that is scary. The Navy 426 00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:08,520 Speaker 1: did do several surveys to make sure that there wasn't 427 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:12,919 Speaker 1: any signs of plutonium leaking out of this bomb, and 428 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:14,919 Speaker 1: they didn't find anything. There was one point where they 429 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 1: found an area of higher radiation than expected, and at 430 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:22,760 Speaker 1: first the thought was they had detected the actual location 431 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:26,320 Speaker 1: of the bomb itself, but upon further investigation, they found 432 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:29,640 Speaker 1: that the radiation was actually naturally occurring. It was from 433 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:33,800 Speaker 1: minerals that were on the ocean bed, and it wasn't 434 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:38,760 Speaker 1: byproducts of a thermonuclear device itself. So it still remains 435 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:42,760 Speaker 1: a mystery as to exactly where that bomb is. Okay, 436 00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:48,520 Speaker 1: we've got three of those bombs covered already. We've got 437 00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:51,800 Speaker 1: three more plus a bonus to go. So before we 438 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,120 Speaker 1: get to that, let's take another quick break to thank 439 00:26:55,160 --> 00:27:07,840 Speaker 1: our sponsors. Okay, So next up, we have an accident 440 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:11,520 Speaker 1: that happened three years after the Tybee bomb incident. So 441 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,639 Speaker 1: this one happened in nineteen sixty one. On January twenty 442 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:18,720 Speaker 1: fourth of nineteen sixty one, a B fifty two aircraft 443 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 1: was on an airborne alert mission. And you might owe 444 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:26,000 Speaker 1: my drugiz one da what that means. Well, back in 445 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:28,639 Speaker 1: the day, and by that I mean most of the 446 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:34,320 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, America had this practice of having nuclear armed 447 00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:38,200 Speaker 1: B fifty two bombers in the air above North America 448 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:41,600 Speaker 1: at all times. So there were always a squadron of 449 00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:45,480 Speaker 1: these aircraft flying routes over North America. The idea was 450 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:48,800 Speaker 1: that these aircraft could be sent to drop bombs on 451 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:52,280 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union, you know, if things kind of took 452 00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:55,040 Speaker 1: a turn for the worst. So the Cold War sure 453 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:57,639 Speaker 1: was fun to lift through, y'all. No, granted, I was. 454 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:01,280 Speaker 1: I was born after the era of the B fifty twos. 455 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:06,520 Speaker 1: For me, it was all intercondinental ballistic missiles. Anyway. Crews 456 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:08,720 Speaker 1: would operate these B fifty two aircraft as part of 457 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:12,479 Speaker 1: a project. They got the super fun nickname Operation Chrome 458 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:15,359 Speaker 1: Dome because it's a lot easier to deal with the 459 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:19,360 Speaker 1: possibility of existential destruction if you've got a fun nickname 460 00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:21,600 Speaker 1: for it. So the operation always makes me think of 461 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:25,280 Speaker 1: the Stanley Kubrick film Doctor Strangelove aka How I Learned 462 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:27,720 Speaker 1: to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. That film came 463 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:31,280 Speaker 1: out nineteen sixty four, so when Chrome Dome was in 464 00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:34,040 Speaker 1: full effect, and it features pilots who are ordered by 465 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:37,200 Speaker 1: a psychotic officer to launch an attack on the Soviet Union. 466 00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:40,760 Speaker 1: And this is all done without the realization that the 467 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:45,000 Speaker 1: USSR had recently created a doomsday device designed to automatically 468 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: deploy in the event of a nuclear conflict. The film 469 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:50,920 Speaker 1: is a great satire, well worth watching if you haven't 470 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:53,360 Speaker 1: seen it. But let's get back to the actual incident. 471 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:56,600 Speaker 1: So on January twenty fourth, nineteen sixty one, this crew 472 00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:00,160 Speaker 1: were flying their nuclear armed B fifty two over North 473 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 1: Carolina when the aircraft experienced a structural failure of the 474 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:09,200 Speaker 1: right wing, which quote resulted in two weapons separating from 475 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:12,920 Speaker 1: the aircraft during aircraft breakup at two thousand to ten 476 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:16,320 Speaker 1: thousand feet altitude end quote. One of those two weapons 477 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:20,560 Speaker 1: deployed a parachute and apart from some minor damage, descended 478 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:24,000 Speaker 1: without further incident. The other one plummeted to the earth 479 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:28,400 Speaker 1: and broke apart upon hitting the ground. It did not, however, explode, 480 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:31,440 Speaker 1: which is good because this happened over a farm in Goldsboro, 481 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:35,760 Speaker 1: North Carolina. The accident was a major one. Three of 482 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:39,920 Speaker 1: the eight person crew died in this accident. The military 483 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 1: swept in did a thorough search for the weapon, specifically 484 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:46,160 Speaker 1: for the uranium core of the weapon, but despite a 485 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:49,520 Speaker 1: long search, they could not find it. According to the 486 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:53,960 Speaker 1: DoD quote, the Air Force subsequently purchased an easement requiring 487 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,200 Speaker 1: permission for anyone to dig there end quote. This is 488 00:29:57,240 --> 00:30:00,520 Speaker 1: to help prevent someone from just unearthing a nuclear bomb, 489 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:03,400 Speaker 1: which seems like a reasonable precaution to me. According to 490 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:06,920 Speaker 1: the News Observer, which was a North Carolina paper, quote, 491 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:10,480 Speaker 1: seven of the eight arming, fusing and firing switches and 492 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:15,560 Speaker 1: devices in one bomb automatically activated. Only a crew controlled 493 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:19,680 Speaker 1: switch prevented a nuclear detonation end quote. Which is a 494 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: big old woolf All right, So we are nearly done, 495 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:27,440 Speaker 1: and this time four whole years would pass before the 496 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,960 Speaker 1: next incident of a lost bomb, almost five years. In fact, 497 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 1: this next incident happened on December fifth, nineteen sixty five. 498 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:38,160 Speaker 1: The DoD entry on this one is pretty brief, and 499 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:41,160 Speaker 1: in fact, i'll just read it out verbatim because it's 500 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:45,640 Speaker 1: very short. Quote. An A four aircraft loaded with one 501 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:49,560 Speaker 1: nuclear weapon rolled off the elevator of a US aircraft 502 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:53,000 Speaker 1: carrier and fell into the sea. The pilot, aircraft, and 503 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:56,160 Speaker 1: weapon were lost. The incident occurred more than five hundred 504 00:30:56,240 --> 00:30:59,440 Speaker 1: miles from land end quote. Now, the A four in 505 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:02,840 Speaker 1: this case refers to a Douglas A four E Skyhawk. 506 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:07,280 Speaker 1: It's a light attack aircraft that obviously can carry various weapons, 507 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:11,760 Speaker 1: including nuclear armed weapons. Now we do have a few 508 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 1: more details that emerged subsequently. The same nineteen sixty six 509 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,400 Speaker 1: letter that mentioned the Tybee bomb to the Joint Committee 510 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:24,480 Speaker 1: on Atomic Energy in Congress also mentioned this incident. For 511 00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:27,320 Speaker 1: one thing, that letter names the aircraft carrier as the 512 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:31,920 Speaker 1: USS Taekwonderoga and that the incident happened in quote two 513 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,959 Speaker 1: thy seven hundred fathoms of water end quote. A fathom 514 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:38,800 Speaker 1: is equal to two yards, so this means the seafloor 515 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:42,920 Speaker 1: was some three miles below. Further later details would reveal 516 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:45,680 Speaker 1: the location was in the Philippine Sea and the pilot 517 00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:49,880 Speaker 1: who was lost was one Lieutenant junior grade Douglas Webster 518 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:54,720 Speaker 1: of the US Navy. Chief Petty Officer Delbert Mitchell detailed 519 00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:57,720 Speaker 1: exactly what happened that day from his perspective in a 520 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:01,200 Speaker 1: blog post for the Naval History Magazine in twenty nineteen. 521 00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:05,080 Speaker 1: Mitchell relates that he, as part of a guided missile crew, 522 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:08,280 Speaker 1: took part in an exercise to load and then the 523 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:12,640 Speaker 1: plan was unload a nuclear weapon onto this A four aircraft, 524 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:15,240 Speaker 1: and he wrote that it was a weapon with one 525 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:19,080 Speaker 1: megaton yield. That means this particular bomb had an explosive 526 00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:24,160 Speaker 1: force equal to a million tons of TNT. So Webster 527 00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:27,320 Speaker 1: entered the cockpit after they had loaded the bomb onto 528 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:32,080 Speaker 1: the aircraft, and the aircraft was pushed toward the aircraft elevator. Now, 529 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:36,400 Speaker 1: what happened next was the actual disaster. Plane directors were 530 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:39,360 Speaker 1: signaling for the pilot to set the brakes on the plane. 531 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:43,720 Speaker 1: It was rolling toward the elevator and it needed to stop. 532 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,720 Speaker 1: But apparently Webster was looking down and he didn't see 533 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:49,960 Speaker 1: them or hear them whistling to indicate that there was 534 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,920 Speaker 1: an emergency. So the plane kept rolling toward the elevator 535 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,880 Speaker 1: and crews attempted to set chocks on the wheels of 536 00:32:57,920 --> 00:32:59,600 Speaker 1: the aircraft who were to force it to stop, but 537 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,120 Speaker 1: only one person was able to do it, so instead 538 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:06,280 Speaker 1: the plane pivoted, it turned, it hit the netting on 539 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:09,800 Speaker 1: the aircraft elevator and broke through, and then it toppled 540 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:12,840 Speaker 1: over head, over heels essentially and into the ocean. It 541 00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:18,480 Speaker 1: landed on its top onto the ocean. In nineteen sixty six, 542 00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:22,200 Speaker 1: when that letter was sent to Congress, this incident was 543 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:26,720 Speaker 1: not yet public because quote this subject is considered sensitive 544 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:30,440 Speaker 1: because of its potential impact upon visits of the Taekwonderoga 545 00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:33,840 Speaker 1: and other warships to foreign ports end quote, and I 546 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:37,360 Speaker 1: can definitely see how the tragic loss of a pilot 547 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:40,600 Speaker 1: and an aircraft and a nuclear weapon might make the 548 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:44,000 Speaker 1: Taekwonderoga a little bit unwelcome in some parts of the world. 549 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:47,560 Speaker 1: In fact, the Navy did not acknowledge this accident until 550 00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:51,360 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine, and at that point Japan had a 551 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:55,360 Speaker 1: pretty dramatic response, understandably so, to learning about the loss 552 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:58,320 Speaker 1: of this nuclear weapon, and they launched their own diplomatic 553 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:02,920 Speaker 1: inquiry into the incident. Now, the final Broken Arrow incident, 554 00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:05,480 Speaker 1: in which the US military was unable to retrieve the 555 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:10,840 Speaker 1: nuclear weapon involved and put an asterisk behind final here. Actually, 556 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:12,759 Speaker 1: technically I guess this would be final because this does 557 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:16,200 Speaker 1: happen after the penultimate one. Anyway, this happened in the 558 00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:18,960 Speaker 1: spring of nineteen sixty eight. This one's very tricky to 559 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,920 Speaker 1: cover compared to the other ones because the Department of 560 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:24,800 Speaker 1: Defense document that I keep referencing, the one that lists 561 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:27,880 Speaker 1: the thirty two incidents that happened between nineteen fifty and 562 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:32,400 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty. Remember, only six of those actually include incidents 563 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:37,200 Speaker 1: where the weapon was unrecoverable. Well, that documents entry on 564 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:42,319 Speaker 1: this particular incident says, quote Spring nineteen sixty eight at 565 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:47,600 Speaker 1: sea Atlantic details remain classified end quote. And that's it. 566 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:51,640 Speaker 1: But do a little digging, and that reveals that the 567 00:34:51,680 --> 00:34:55,680 Speaker 1: incident likely refers to the sinking of the USS Scorpion, 568 00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,680 Speaker 1: a nuclear powered submarine. So this was a submarine that 569 00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,160 Speaker 1: also carried two new nuclear weapons. In late May of 570 00:35:02,239 --> 00:35:06,120 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight, the Scorpion was lost. The crew aboard 571 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:09,560 Speaker 1: the Scorpion were assigned the duty of observing Soviet naval 572 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:14,160 Speaker 1: activities around the Azores region, and the last message from 573 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:17,800 Speaker 1: the Scorpion before tragedy struck indicated that the submarine was 574 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:21,960 Speaker 1: gaining on a Soviet submarine. The Scorpion was due to 575 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:25,200 Speaker 1: return to its home port in Virginia on May twenty seventh, 576 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:29,040 Speaker 1: but it did not arrive, and the Navy launched an 577 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:34,520 Speaker 1: investigation and a search, and eventually in October of nineteen 578 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:37,360 Speaker 1: sixty eight, remember it was lost in May, but October 579 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight, the Navy was able to locate part 580 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:42,880 Speaker 1: of the Scorpion's hull several hundred miles off the southwest 581 00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:46,680 Speaker 1: of the Azores. And what exactly caused the Scorpion's destruction 582 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:52,000 Speaker 1: was unknown. What was known was that the loss meant 583 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:54,759 Speaker 1: that all hands on board a total of ninety nine 584 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:58,879 Speaker 1: crew members were also lost, and there were several hypotheses 585 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:01,600 Speaker 1: as to what could have caused the sinking. The prevailing 586 00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:05,759 Speaker 1: theory was that a torpedo explosion inside the sub itself 587 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:08,520 Speaker 1: was the cause. That was a torpedo within the Scorpion 588 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:13,239 Speaker 1: that detonated for a reason that was undetermined. Whether it 589 00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:18,360 Speaker 1: was an accident and malfunction, that was unknown, but that 590 00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:23,200 Speaker 1: was the going hypothesis and it's truly truly awful, terrible loss. 591 00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:26,239 Speaker 1: And it also meant that the two nuclear weapons that 592 00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:29,200 Speaker 1: were aboard the Scorpion, now rested at the bottom of 593 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:33,160 Speaker 1: the Atlantic. The Navy has since conducted several surveys to 594 00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:36,279 Speaker 1: monitor the area for signs of radioactive material over the 595 00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:39,400 Speaker 1: many years that have passed, but it appears the weapons 596 00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:43,520 Speaker 1: remained safely housed en dormant, and they're so far down 597 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:47,640 Speaker 1: that there's no easy or or practical way to retrieve them, 598 00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:51,680 Speaker 1: so they've just stayed down there now. From what I 599 00:36:51,719 --> 00:36:54,360 Speaker 1: can tell, that is that for the six incidents of 600 00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:57,360 Speaker 1: nuclear weapons that were lost by the United States, however, 601 00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:01,640 Speaker 1: there is another one that also happened in nineteen sixty eight. 602 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:04,600 Speaker 1: In fact, it happened in January nineteen sixty eight, so 603 00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:08,360 Speaker 1: before the loss of the Scorpion. Now, the official record 604 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:12,400 Speaker 1: states that the four nuclear weapons involved in this incident 605 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:17,000 Speaker 1: were all destroyed. But let's go over what happened with detail. 606 00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:20,200 Speaker 1: So we're talking January nineteen sixty eight, and a B 607 00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:24,000 Speaker 1: fifty two from Plattsburg Air Force Base was flying near 608 00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:27,919 Speaker 1: Thule Air Base in Greenland as part of the aforementioned 609 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:32,680 Speaker 1: Chrome Dome operation. So on January twenty first, nineteen sixty eight, 610 00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:36,440 Speaker 1: a fire broke out inside this aircraft. Apparently caused by 611 00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:40,279 Speaker 1: some stowed cushions catching fire after the crew had tried 612 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:43,279 Speaker 1: to put the aircraft's heater into overdrive to battle the 613 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:47,720 Speaker 1: frigid operating temperatures inside. Six of the seven crew members 614 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:52,160 Speaker 1: were able to eject to safety as the aircraft caught fire. 615 00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:56,319 Speaker 1: One hand aboard did not make it. The aircraft, like 616 00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:59,720 Speaker 1: I said, was carrying four nuclear weapons. Now, the Department 617 00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:02,480 Speaker 1: of the Fence, in that document of the thirty two 618 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:06,120 Speaker 1: insidants says that all four weapons were destroyed in the fire, 619 00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:10,280 Speaker 1: so that this does not count toward that six tally 620 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:14,120 Speaker 1: because the bombs, at least, according to the official account, 621 00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:18,840 Speaker 1: were destroyed. Now, these weapons caused radioactive contamination within that 622 00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:22,400 Speaker 1: area off the coast of Greenland, and the US, in 623 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:27,520 Speaker 1: partnership with Denmark, launched a cleanup operation that removed literally 624 00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:31,480 Speaker 1: tons of contaminated materials and then transported those to the 625 00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:35,360 Speaker 1: United States for disposal. For years, the United States maintained 626 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:38,800 Speaker 1: that all four of those weapons were destroyed, but Danish 627 00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:41,560 Speaker 1: newspapers began to publish articles that said one of the 628 00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:45,960 Speaker 1: four weapons was unaccounted for that the cleanup effort indicated 629 00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:49,200 Speaker 1: that you know, just based upon the amount that they 630 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:54,200 Speaker 1: were encountering, and how much uranium versus plutonium they were encountering, 631 00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:57,640 Speaker 1: that only three of the weapons had been destroyed, and 632 00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:02,440 Speaker 1: that the secondary charge of the fourth weapon had not 633 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:05,319 Speaker 1: and was missing. So, like I said, going by the 634 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:08,880 Speaker 1: official count isn't necessarily the most accurate approach, but you know, 635 00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:12,240 Speaker 1: it's pretty hard to get firm information on this stuff 636 00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:15,520 Speaker 1: for understandable reasons. I also think it's a good idea 637 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:18,240 Speaker 1: to point out that other nations have also lost nuclear 638 00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:21,040 Speaker 1: weapons in various incidents over the years. The United States 639 00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:23,800 Speaker 1: is not alone in this. The Soviet Union in particular 640 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,600 Speaker 1: has lost a few, mostly due to the loss of 641 00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:31,600 Speaker 1: nuclear armed submarines in various places around the world. Other 642 00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:35,080 Speaker 1: nations have surely lost some as well, though we don't 643 00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:38,520 Speaker 1: exactly have readily available documentation for them. Again, no one 644 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:42,879 Speaker 1: super eager to talk about this stuff because obviously there's 645 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:46,560 Speaker 1: potential for things like international incidents and stuff and panic. 646 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:51,440 Speaker 1: It is part and parcel with the nuclear age. So yeah, 647 00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:53,880 Speaker 1: these are the ones that we in the United States 648 00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:56,400 Speaker 1: know about due to the fact that certain documents have 649 00:39:56,440 --> 00:39:59,720 Speaker 1: been declassified and the Freedom of Information Act has allowed 650 00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:05,440 Speaker 1: access to certain documents. Again that mention these incidents. Otherwise 651 00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:09,960 Speaker 1: we likely wouldn't know about this either. Scary stuff. No 652 00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:13,040 Speaker 1: telling what we don't know. I mean, some people surely 653 00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:16,000 Speaker 1: know it, but I don't. But yeah, I thought it 654 00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:20,520 Speaker 1: would be good to kind of revisit this again, inspired 655 00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:23,880 Speaker 1: by the Fallout series. I guess the silver lining for 656 00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:27,879 Speaker 1: all this is that, as devastating as nuclear weapons are, 657 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:31,120 Speaker 1: if you are not like, within a few miles of 658 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:35,480 Speaker 1: the blast zone and you're very careful, then you're not 659 00:40:35,560 --> 00:40:38,839 Speaker 1: gonna end up being turned into a ghoul or a 660 00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:42,680 Speaker 1: super mutant. You're not gonna end up being, you know, 661 00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:49,480 Speaker 1: wandering a barren wasteland and constructing buildings out of scrap material. 662 00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:53,720 Speaker 1: That appears to just be the realm of post apocalyptic 663 00:40:54,239 --> 00:40:59,879 Speaker 1: science fiction films, but it's not great anyway. That's it 664 00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:03,760 Speaker 1: for this episode of tech Stuff. I hope you're all well. 665 00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:08,759 Speaker 1: I hope you are reasonably avoiding radioactive areas. You know 666 00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:12,640 Speaker 1: that's important, And I'll talk to you again really soon. 667 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:23,120 Speaker 1: Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 668 00:41:23,440 --> 00:41:27,120 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 669 00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:28,280 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.