Trinity

Seventy-five years ago today, Man entered the Atomic Age.  Man did this with the plutonium created in the reactors at the Hanford Engineering Works in Washington State.

In the early morning of July 16, 1945 (About half after 5AM), the experimental implosion device was tested near Alamogordo, New Mexico.  It created a HUGE explosion.  You can read more about it here and here.  

This is when Robert Oppenheimer said, "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."  Or something to that effect.

Then, twenty-four years later, man left this planet for a different one.  Three men lifted off from Earth and left orbit for the Moon.

All-in-all, this is a historically significant day.

Nuclear Tests

I discovered this on Information Dissemination.  This is a movie of all the atomic/thermonuclear tests that went on during the Cold War and into the 1990s.  It is a fascinating way to understand just how many tests/explosions were detonated.  Please have a look, it is worth the time.



Here are a few things that are of interest to me:

1. The obvious alliance between Britain and the US...check out those later British tests.

2.  The French and the way their tests seem to go unimpaired by treaties from the 1980s to 1990s.

3.  Just HOW MANY were conducted in the US.

4.  The Israelis apparently have never tested a nuclear device (I am under the impression they have nuclear weapons [correct me if I am wrong]).

5.  The Soviet Union's SLOW beginning, where as the US conducted tests of multiple devices during a short period early on, the Soviets appeared to do one at a time.


Enjoy and let me know what YOU think!

Nuclear Education

During the Cold War, Nuclear weapons proliferated.  Now, our government is still striving to reduce the number of Nuclear Weapons.  That is not within the aspect of this site.  However, given our CLOSE ties to Hanford, Washington, the following Youtube video IS.

Note that the Mark 3 weapon was the "Fatman" bomb, used in Japan.

This neat little Youtube video gives an instructional look at our Nuclear Weapons of that era.  It is a montage of a couple training films from that era, with a look at all of the ways to employ nuclear weapons.  It will keep you busy for 17 minutes, so be warned.  Still, if you are interested in such things, you will find it educational!

Note, especially, the referral to Nike Missile sites at about 15 1/2 minutes in.  I have been to a decommissioned Nike site.  There isn't much to see.  It's impressive to see them in their former glory!

So, here, have a look and a listen, maybe you'll learn something, or maybe you will see how close we came to a totally different world.  Either way, it is a good idea to see how it was.

 

Nukes in Minot

I am sure you recall last fall when a B-52 was loaded with 6 nukes and flew across country unaware of their payload's lethality. Well, apparently the boys at Minot were not so hot yet again. This is an interesting blog entry. Seems to me that the base commander would be on the ass of every person assigned to be on their best behavior. Is it just me or wouldn't you want to avoid getting your ass reamed? So, the security forces were apparently playing games on their cell phones while they should have been repelling a simulated attack. Maybe they were texting loved ones about their coming courtsmartials.

Considering the amount of security surrounding nukes in the Cold War, this comedy of errors is evidence of today's kids and their inability to appreciate the gravity of such things. I am not as scared of radiation as I once was (flashback to 1986, when Chernobyl had blown and rain across the US was said to be possibly somewhat radioactive. I was 12, but I recall being aware that it was a bad thing to be soaking in the rain at the time). I have a much better understanding of radiation and blast effects. I am not stupid, I know that any nuclear blast would be a bad thing. I simply am not over-worried about the prospects. Still, these are things best kept in controlled places. Part of the control is a security force that should be on the ball...apparently, we need to work on that. I would expect an all volunteer force to work better than it sometimes does. Maybe it is the group culture that has evolved in the modern US...who knows. I suppose we shall have to wait and see.