According to Wikipedia, this warhead (9.1 megatons) was apparently never tested, although an experimental TX-46 predecessor design was detonated 28 June 1958 as Hardtack Oak, which detonated at a yield of 8.9 Megatons.
From The National Nuclear Security Administration
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) today
The dismantlement of the 1960s-era weapon system is consistent with President Obama’s goal of reducing the number of nuclear weapons. In his 2009 speech in Prague, the President 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 system will never again be part of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.
The elimination of the B53 by Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is consistent with the goal President Obama announced in his April 2009 Prague speech to reduce the number of nuclear weapons. The President 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 system will never again be part of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.
As a key part of its national security mission, NNSA is actively responsible for safely dismantling weapons that are no longer needed, and disposing of the excess material and components.
Fact Sheet
B53 highlights:
- The B53 bomb is a 1960s-era system and was introduced into the stockpile in 1962.
- NNSA’s Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories designed the B53 bomb.
- The B53 served a key role in the U.S. nuclear deterrent until its retirement in 1997.
- The B53 supported the B-52G strategic bomber program.
- The B53 was built at Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Burlington, Iowa.
- The Pantex Plant, Amarillo, Texas, dismantled the B53 bomb.
- Y-12 will dismantle the remaining nuclear portion of the B53 bomb.
- The B53 is one of the longest-lived and highest-yield nuclear weapons ever fielded by the United States.
- The B53 is about the size of a minivan and weighs about 10,000 pounds.
- Dismantlement process utilized the rigid Seamless Safety for the 21st Century (SS-21) process in dismantling the B53.
- NNSA’s SS-21 process fully integrates the weapon system with the facility, tooling, operating procedures, and personnel involved in the dismantlement program to form a safe, efficient, and effective operating environment.
- The B53 dismantlement program was safely completed 12 months ahead of schedule.
- The DoD played a role in staging the weapon prior to dismantlement.
- The B53 dismantlement program involved more than 130 engineers, scientists, and technicians from Pantex, Y-12, Los Alamos National Laboratory (physics designers and weapon response), Sandia National Laboratories (weapon system), and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (weapon response subject matter expert).
The dismantlement process includes: retiring a weapon from active or inactive service; returning and staging it at NNSA’s Pantex Plant; taking it apart by physically separating the high explosives from the special nuclear material; and processing the material and components, which includes evaluation, reuse, demilitarization, sanitization, recycling, and ultimate disposal.
In other news, a spokesman for the Union of Concerned Scientists, Kenji Watts, was said to be less concerned than before by the reduction in whimpering observed.
Ivor Ward says:
October 25, 2011 at 11:23 am
“Does this mean that we can ask GREENPEACE to disband now. After all, they were only set up to promote nuclear disarmament. I’d say they’ve won so can they sod off.”
They have expanded their mission statement; they now want to stop all nuclear energy and all genetic manipulation when it leads to the spreading of new organisms. This might of course change any time , but that’s how I interpret their current FAQ.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/about/faq/
Would you stop such a successfull extortion machine?
Pull My Finger says:
October 25, 2011 at 11:51 am
“Political Science classes must be boring post-cold war. MAD, Superpower Summits and Cloak and Daggar skullduggery have been replaced by what? Copyright issues, outsourcing and killing scraggly sheep buggerers hiding out in caves?”
Creating the New World Order by co-opting science.
RHS: …still have it humanly habitual.
Had to think about this a bit. I guess you mean habitable?
: > )
The addendum to the phrase “Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” – i.e. “… and atom bombs.” had this puppy in mind.
Reminds me of a tee-shirt from my sub days – “16 empty tubes and a mushroom cloud. Now it’s Miller time.”
88 pics of nuclear detonations:
http://izismile.com/2008/12/22/nuclear_explosions_88_photos.html
OK now, how about the link between the military and the validity (?) of weather/climate data?
In WWII service personnel risked their lives to take out enemy met stations.
juanslayton – I did mean habitable but in hindsight…
Supposedly the largest bomb tested by the US was planned to yield 5 megatons but actually yielded 15 while the Soviets lit off a 50 megaton bomb in 1961, capable of 100 megatons if so fueled. I have heard that the US had one, or planned one, never tested that if detonated could change the axial tilt of the planet. Such power, as noted by one comment above, could be useful, particularly in the event of a need to deter a large impact, had we the time and delivery capability. I, for one, never throw much away that might be useful in the future.
You can have my B53 when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
Since two others mentioned the Tsar Bomba, so will I.
It was 50mt yes, but the fun part? it was scaled down from a 100mt design–which of course was undeliverable by any means at the time..
what aircraft model is that in the opening of the clip? I don’t recognize it offhand.
If the yield is truly 9.1MT, it is by far not the largest yield nuclear weapon in the US arsenal. It is, in fact, the physically largest nuke ever built but, far from the largest yield. Several 100+ MT weapons exist in the US arsenal however, they are fission/fusion devices that would fit in the back of a pickup truck.
You can dismantle my B53 nuclear bomb when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
I am glad that Mr Obama is protecting the essence of my bodily fluid….. ;-D
These giant bombs are as much an anachranism as B-17s and Krupp Howitzers. In the 50s and 60s you couldn’t target missile sites or submarine bases with much accuracy at all so you made up for accuracy with… coverage. The Soviets went even further, they would kill the target site and every human being within 10 miles of the site instantly, 50%+ casualty rate triple that radius, and then obliterate every urban area in the USA just for good measure. The Soviets had close to 20,000 strategic wareheads at one time that could reach the US.
A 5kt nuke tipped cruise missile is much more effective and has little colatteral damage, if you’d even need the nuke tip. So, Canada doesn’t need 5MT bombs these days, rest well. 🙂 I’m pretty sure everyone agrees that millions of deaths due to nuclear holocause is a pretty un PC these days. And pretty pointless considering we don’t need stop a million of Ruskies screaming across West Germany these days. Chinese don’t have the logistical framework to be a threat to anyone they don’t share a land border with.
More Soylent Green! says:
October 25, 2011 at 12:30 pm
When you outlaw nuclear weapons, only outlaws will have nukes.
I guess only the criminals have tanks??? /sarc
What this country lacks, many times, is circumspection . . . . . in my opinion.
News article from 2012 – As the world mournfully waits for the impact of the recently discovered comet Wolf-Biederman, Greenpeace activists are forced to ponder the bitter irony of their semi-successful campaign to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Had America not dismantled her last remaining megaton class B53 bombs just one year ago they could have been used to deflect the comet, which will now destroy the environment and most life on the planet.
Deep Impact . – Fun Facts and Information
http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Movies/Deep-Impact-6923.htmlSimilar
How big does the President say is the size of the original comet, before it was … After the inital comet, Wolf-Biederman, is split in two, what is the name for the …
how many of these bombs – retired in 1997 – still exist? Is this really the last one? 10 tons mass is equivalent to the Grand Slam bomb used a few times in WW2 but the explosive impact of this is horrific.
This is Damn Interesting…
Lauren, I was having fun paraphrasing some bumper stickers I often see on pickup trucks here in fly-over country.
But should have posted When you outlaw nuclear weapons, only outlaw nations and terrorists will have nuclear weapons.
The genie is out of the bottle. It’s been almost 70 years since the first atomic bombs were created. What once could only be created by the world’s only superpower can now be built by any dictatorship that possess the will to do so. We can’t erase that knowledge from human memory.
OK . . . . I believe you . . . .
http://www.youtube.com/user/BiotaMax?blend=20&ob=5#p/a/u/0/eeQ1_oTwMGQ
re: Sal Minella
I was under the impression that the B-58 Hustler carried a 20 MT nuke, ditto the Titan ICBM. Perhaps the B53 was not hydrogen? That would take a heck of a lot of Plutonium.
The aircraft in the clip at the beginning is a Martin B57. Likely a B model as the A had the goldfish bowl canopy same as the English Electric Canberra of which it was an Americanised version.
The plane in the opening sequence was an English Electric Canberra, manufactured under licence by Martin in the U.S.A.
Oops Mike Borgelt beat me to it.
“Chinese don’t have the logistical framework to be a threat to anyone they don’t share a land border with.”……YET