Have you heard anything about this? Nuclear mishap?

[Mojorabbit]

Just wondering if it is baloney or not.
http://www.inform.kz/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=147058
Austin
Mishap in dismantling nuclear warhead
A watchdog group charges a nuclear warhead nearly exploded in Texas when it was being dismantled at the governments Pantex facility near Amarillo.
It won't let me copy and paste but the rest is at the link.

[northzax]

1. Here's the letter itself:

http://pogo.org/p/homeland/hl-061201-bodman.html

and, just for the record, Kazakhstan the greatest country in the world, all other countries are run by little girls.

[Little Wing]

5. It is the number one supplier of potassium!

Watched that last night.

Couldn't believe the hotel conference room sequence

[Poll_Blind]

2. Here are two links, NOT from a site in Kazakhstan.

Washington Times

United Press International

Wanted to head off the "Pravda Syndrome" where a story, even a legitimate one, carried by Pravda is discounted because of Pravda's notoriously-low editorial standards.

PB

[Mojorabbit]

3. Thanks, I just googled myself

and found it here
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/12/15/15pantex.html
It seems to me this is a huge story. I can't believe I hadn't heard of it elsewhere.

From the statesman
'Near miss' at Pantex could have set off nuke
Amarillo facility's operator fined $110,000 for incidents.

By Jeff Nesmith
WASHINGTON BUREAU
Friday, December 15, 2006

WASHINGTON — An accident that occurred last year as a decades-old nuclear warhead was being dismantled at the government's Pantex facility near Amarillo could have caused the device to detonate, a nonprofit organization charged Thursday.

The Project on Government Oversight watchdog group said the "near miss," which led the Energy Department to fine the plant's operator $110,000, was caused in part by technicians at the plant being required to work up to 72 hours per week.

The Pantex facility, 17 miles northeast of Amarillo in the Panhandle, is the country's only factory for assembling and disassembling nuclear weapons.

The organization said it was told by unidentified experts "knowledgeable about this event" that the accident, in which an unsafe amount of pressure was applied to the warhead, could have caused it to explode.

The group also released an anonymous letter, purportedly sent by Pantex employees, warning that long hours and efforts to increase output were causing dangerous conditions in the plant.

snip
Project on Government Oversight investigator Peter Stockton, a former Energy Department official, said the weapon was a W-56 warhead, with a yield of 1,200 kilotons, 100 times the destructive power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

[buddysmellgood]

18. $110,000!!! Holy Foley. That is some serious cash. I'm sure it came out of...our pockets.

[ieoeja]

12. So you gave us links to the Moonies?!?

Washington Times and UPI are both owned by Reverend Moon, the self-proclaimed 2nd coming of Christ and rightwing nutjob.

[Poll_Blind]

13. Those where the only two other references to the story on Google News....

...from any recognizable Western media outlets, at least at the time I checked. Feel free to disregard them if you feel they may imperil your sensibilities.

PB

[originalpckelly]

14. POGO is reliable by itself...

you can choose to read their article or not.

[Mojorabbit]

4. Any texans out there?

[drm604]

6. The article isn't entirely clear about what type of explosion nearly occurred.

Are they talking about an actual nuclear detonation, or just the conventional explosive trigger?

I suspect the latter. This would have been similar to a dirty bomb, which would still have been bad but not near as disastrous as a nuclear explosion.

[originalpckelly]

9. They mean the full shebang...

because these old nukes do not have safety devices in them to prevent accidental detonation. This wouldn't even be a story, were the other true.

[drm604]

11. Okay. I was assuming that there were safety devices,

but I disagree about it not being a story the other way.

[originalpckelly]

15. True, depending on how much explosive is used in the shell...

which compresses the nuclear material, it could have been a small explosion or a 500 lb. bomb.
But it would probably not kill the whole city as it would have it been the full nuclear detonation.

[Mojorabbit]

20. The article said this

Project on Government Oversight investigator Peter Stockton, a former Energy Department official, said the weapon was a W-56 warhead, with a yield of 1,200 kilotons, 100 times the destructive power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

[Target_For_Exterm]

7. Don't worry. Bush would just pass it off as a terrorist attack

and use it as an excuse to invade Iran.

:sarcasm:

[soulcore]

8. WTF, mate?

I'm in Dallas and this is the first I've heard of this.

That's freaking scary.

[originalpckelly]

10. When people fuck up this bad, don't call it a mishap...

call it a near-catastrophe. Fuck the terrorists, we'll blow ourselves up!

[originalpckelly]

16. Why isn't this being discussed more? This is a damn big deal.

Pretty outrageous that our government could cover such a serious matter up for than long a period of time.

[Mojorabbit]

17. That is what I am wondering.

Pretty scary.

[buddysmellgood]

19. No, you see, when we destroy our own cities or ignore their destruction, or if

the terrorism is committed by white neocons or white high school kids, it doesn't count.