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Fifty-three year old nuclear missile accident revealed

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Re: Fifty-three year old nuclear missile accident revealed

#51

Post by lostlogin »

ars wrote: post #26
vkou wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arms reduction is even more important. I'd rather live in a world where 20 countries have 50 warheads each, then one where two countries have 4,000 warheads each. A weapon detonating by accident is terrible. Thousands of weapons on hair-trigger alert is civilization-ending. It's absolutely insane that we're conditioned to believe that this is not only normal - but the best possible state of affairs.

> I'd rather live in a world where 20 countries have 50 warheads each, then one where two countries have 4,000 warheads each. I absolutely would not. Those 2 countries know far more about the process then those other countries, and they have the budget to do it right. You would have to duplicate labs, and computers, and other efforts 20 times in your scenario, and each of those labs will not be as good as the 2 highe…

Who are the two countries you speak of? There have been some pretty spectacular accidents due to underfunding and poor performance in superpowers.

Re: Fifty-three year old nuclear missile accident revealed

#52

Post by nrb »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #29
vkou wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arms reduction is even more important. I'd rather live in a world where 20 countries have 50 warheads each, then one where two countries have 4,000 warheads each. A weapon detonating by accident is terrible. Thousands of weapons on hair-trigger alert is civilization-ending. It's absolutely insane that we're conditioned to believe that this is not only normal - but the best possible state of affairs.

>I'd rather live in a world where 20 countries have 50 warheads each, then one where two countries have 4,000 warheads each. Now instead of two political leaders to worry about, you have 20. Not sure if that's what you really want.

Political leaders are far from the biggest worry compared to command and control of their vast nuclear arsenals. More eyes on less weapons mitigates that. After all, several nuclear weapons have gone missing by the US and several dozen are believed to have gone missing in the Soviet Union.

Re: Fifty-three year old nuclear missile accident revealed

#53

Post by exhilaration »

taurath wrote: post #45
ars wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd rather live in a world where 20 countries have 50 warheads each, then one where two countries have 4,000 warheads each. I absolutely would not. Those 2 countries know far more about the process then those other countries, and they have the budget to do it right. You would have to duplicate labs, and computers, and other efforts 20 times in your scenario, and each of those labs will not be as good as the 2 highe…

Major conflicts only happen in non nuclear states. In all honesty I’ll bet that’s what has kept India and Pakistan from a war.

Ahem... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_wars_and_confli...

Re: Fifty-three year old nuclear missile accident revealed

#54

Post by knappe »

I recently finished Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety [0]. I can't recommend the book enough for how eye opening it really is into how blasé we have been with nuclear weapons.

We've been reckless and by all accounts it is a miracle we haven't had a serious accident (there have been a few, just not on our own soil). The number of close calls is just astounding.

Further the book, at one point, talks about America's position on Russia and the attempts to keep them from getting "the bomb". It is exactly what has played out and will continue to play out with North Korea and Iran. History is repeating itself and we sure haven't learned from it.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C5R7F8G/

Re: Fifty-three year old nuclear missile accident revealed

#55

Post by lostlogin »

0xfeba wrote: post #30
katastic wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't you mother ever tell you to stop putting things in your mouth? Also, it's used in dental alloys. It seems it's only toxic if you inhale its dust. Fun fact: Your body has no way to remove it from your body, so you accumulate it forever.

Same problem as lead, IIRC.

surprisingly it is similar for iron too, luckily we can bleed.

Re: Fifty-three year old nuclear missile accident revealed

#56

Post by lostlogin »

scrooched_moose wrote: post #14
saagarjha wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, isn’t Beryllium toxic? I was under the impression that you don’t want to be around it.

It's mostly an inhalation risk. You definitely don't want to be around the manufacture of it without serious PPE, but touching a screwdriver should be fine. Just don't take it to a grinding wheel. I'd guess anyone working on an MRI machine is wearing gloves anyway for other reasons.

Have watched a few engineers work on MR scanners - no gloves unless dealing with helium.

Re: Fifty-three year old nuclear missile accident revealed

#57

Post by Animats »

nerdponx wrote: post #2

Hicks said the metal of the screwdriver contacted the positive side of the fuse and also the fuse’s grounded metal holder, causing a short circuit that sent electricity flowing to unintended places. Is there some company out there making non-conductive screwdrivers designed for electrical work? I can understand that maybe the materials science to make strong plastic screwdrivers didn't exist in the 1950s, but surely…

He was supposed to be using a fuse puller, but he didn't have one. This is a fuse puller.[1] It's a pair of pliers made from nylon. Before good plastics, they were made of hardwood.[2] Standard electrician tool for a century.

[1] https://www.jensentools.com/gc-waldom-9356-fuse-puller-molde... [2] https://www.etsystudio.com/listing/552201603/antique-wooden-...

Re: Fifty-three year old nuclear missile accident revealed

#58

Post by vkou »

mantas wrote: post #47
clarkmoody wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't you rather live in a world where all governments had zero nuclear weapons each? A nuclear bomb serves no other purpose than killing huge numbers of civilians in a short period of time. Shouldn't we strive for a world where nobody has that capability? Not to mention that in the United States, one man has unilateral and final authority to launch a nuclear first strike. Edit: countries -> governments

The main purpose of nuclear bomb is to deter nuclear attack by ensuring MAD. We should strive for a world where nobody has a chance to use nuclear bomb. And, currently, a handful of countries having them is the best way to ensure that. If all countries claim to destroy their nuclear bombs and never ever make a new one, would you trust all of them?

> The main purpose of nuclear bomb is to deter nuclear attack by ensuring MAD. We should strive for a world where nobody has a chance to use nuclear bomb. And, currently, a handful of countries having them is the best way to ensure that.

Why is a handful of countries having nuclear bombs the best way to ensure that? Why not two dozen countries having nuclear bombs? Neither Ukraine nor Iraq would have been invaded if they were nuclear-armed.

It's incredibly self-serving of nuclear powers to claim that they can have these weapons, because they will be responsible with them, but nobody else can. (And then they go ahead and start wars.)

Re: Fifty-three year old nuclear missile accident revealed

#59

Post by lostlogin »

planteen wrote: post #18
saagarjha wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, isn’t Beryllium toxic? I was under the impression that you don’t want to be around it.

Yes, beryllium is very nasty. You don't ever want to breathe its dust, so don't machine/cut/grind it ever. There are usually warning symbols on things containing it. But it has applications so it gets used. For example, it is used in spacecraft to save weight over aluminum. When I worked with MRI machines, we used FETs with beryllium oxide ceramic (BeO) backing. BeO is an amazing thermal conductor, electrical insulat…

Titanium tools are useful for high field magnets. They look awesome and cost a lot.

Re: Fifty-three year old nuclear missile accident revealed

#60

Post by a_t48 »

lostlogin wrote: post #50
taurath wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Major conflicts only happen in non nuclear states. In all honesty I’ll bet that’s what has kept India and Pakistan from a war.

How do you define a major conflict? Iraq seemed pretty big, and so did Afghanistan.

The draft wasn't invoked, so there's that.
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