Wednesday, September 29, 2004

H-Bomb Off Georgia Coast Not a Threat?

CNN has an update on the "broken arrow."
SAVANNAH, Georgia (AP) -- Spurred by what appear to be unusual radiation readings offshore, the U.S. government is sending a team of 20 scientists to try to find a hydrogen bomb lost off the Georgia coast in 1958.
Beyond the fact that this is an interesting story I think I forgot to post about, the CNN piece had this to say on the bomb's threat:
The Air Force contends there is no danger of a nuclear blast from the bomb off the Georgia coast, because it did not contain the plutonium capsule needed to trigger one.
Somehow I don't believe them. Let's see, this bomb was "lost" over 45 years ago and when it was lost, it was not actually armed? It just doesn't sound right to me. My bet is it's a spin job. Though given the subject matter and scare factor, I imagine they could have come up with a better story.