Overworked Pantex employees almost drop the ball

[judasmachine]

Boomtown

Link requires registration, I'll get to looking for one that does not.

Try this link. Both articles are almost identical.

Recently during the dismantling of a nuclear warhead at the Pantex facility (~15 miles from my house) "applied too much pressure" and risked setting it off. The article goes on to say that employees work 72 hours a week doing one of the single most sensitive jobs in the world. I say we give these guys a break, no matter how hard it is to actually set off a nuke. Scary stuff, and I hope if anything ever happens out there, that I'm close enough to be vaporized instantly.

edited for grammar, and still looks bad. :-/

 

[Pepsei]

it's in texas... so no big deal....

i mean, if i live somewhere around there, i'd be worried......

 

[Bitek]

Don't drop that $hit! Pray to God you don't drop that $hit!..

 

[Braznor]

Honey, I just dropped the nuke

 

[Moonbeam]

MAD always did included the assured part. People may just not have realized its full implications.

 

[techs]

which led the Energy Department to fine the plant's operator $110,000, was due partly to requirements that technicians at the plant work up to 72 hours per week.

Oh yeah, a $110,000 dollar fine will fix everything.

 

[1EZduzit]

If a hammer doesn't work, get a bigger hammer.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Pepsei
it's in texas... so no big deal....

i mean, if i live somewhere around there, i'd be worried......

Oversight project investigator Peter Stockton, a former Energy Department official, said the device was a W56 warhead, with a yield of 1,200 kilotons, 100 times the destructive power of the Hiroshima bomb.

100 Hiroshima's!!! :shocked:

Didn't know we made such massive ones.

 

[theMan]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Pepsei
it's in texas... so no big deal....

i mean, if i live somewhere around there, i'd be worried......

Oversight project investigator Peter Stockton, a former Energy Department official, said the device was a W56 warhead, with a yield of 1,200 kilotons, 100 times the destructive power of the Hiroshima bomb.

100 Hiroshima's!!! :shocked:

Didn't know we made such massive ones.

thats only a relatively small one...

 

[Jmman]

The Russians detonated a hydrogen bomb with a yield of 50+ megatons, or almost 50 times more powerful than this particular bomb.......

 

[theeedude]

Originally posted by: Jmman
The Russians detonated a hydrogen bomb with a yield of 50+ megatons, or almost 50 times more powerful than this particular bomb.......

On an island in the Arctic Ocean, not in Texas

 

[Jeff7]

When you're working with anything with that kind of destructive capability, cutting corners is just flat out stupidity. I'd almost think that jailtime would be good too for the morons responsible for allowing or mandating such long workweeks.

And the workers too should have said something about this, or done something. If you're working on a device capable of vaporizing you and everyone nearby, and you're feeling really tired because you only got 4 hours of sleep last night, or are working a double shift and can't quite remember if "critical mass" is a bad thing to exceed, maybe it's time to call it quits.

 

[Rainsford]

I do think these guys should be careful, but I think the idea that they almost set the nuke off is not quite right. American nuclear weapons are designed in such a way that they are EXTREMELY difficult to set off. Not only would dropping it not do it, firing multiple rounds from an assault rifle directly into the bomb almost certainly wouldn't do it. I think the people getting worried about this have seen too many movies.

That being said, it IS silly to push things if you don't have to...having a huge margin for safety is not a bad thing when you're dealing with a nuclear weapon.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: theman

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Pepsei
it's in texas... so no big deal....

i mean, if i live somewhere around there, i'd be worried......

Oversight project investigator Peter Stockton, a former Energy Department official, said the device was a W56 warhead, with a yield of 1,200 kilotons, 100 times the destructive power of the Hiroshima bomb.

100 Hiroshima's!!! :shocked:

Didn't know we made such massive ones.

thats only a relatively small one...

Originally posted by: Jmman
The Russians detonated a hydrogen bomb with a yield of 50+ megatons, or almost 50 times more powerful than this particular bomb.......

That's right, when I first read it I immediately thought Megatons, now I see it's Kilotons.

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: Rainsford
I do think these guys should be careful, but I think the idea that they almost set the nuke off is not quite right. American nuclear weapons are designed in such a way that they are EXTREMELY difficult to set off. Not only would dropping it not do it, firing multiple rounds from an assault rifle directly into the bomb almost certainly wouldn't do it. I think the people getting worried about this have seen too many movies.

That being said, it IS silly to push things if you don't have to...having a huge margin for safety is not a bad thing when you're dealing with a nuclear weapon.

I think because it was in a state of partial disassembly, the risk became higher.

 

[DealMonkey]

Originally posted by: techs
which led the Energy Department to fine the plant's operator $110,000, was due partly to requirements that technicians at the plant work up to 72 hours per week.

Oh yeah, a $110,000 dollar fine will fix everything.

A better solution would have been to order Pantex to relocate to the outskirts of Crawford.

 

[GoPackGo]

Originally posted by: senseamp

Originally posted by: Jmman
The Russians detonated a hydrogen bomb with a yield of 50+ megatons, or almost 50 times more powerful than this particular bomb.......

On an island in the Arctic Ocean, not in Texas

No one here things the nuke testing from the 40s and beyond would have any effect on anything, right?

No blame it on "fossil fuels" HAHAHAHAH

TOOLS of the Conspiracy.

 

[K1052]

I've seen Amarillo, nobody would miss it.

 

[Jmman]

You guys do realize that we have had several "broken arrows" over the years, nuclear devices that either were accidentally dropped from airplanes or were in planes that crashed and none of them actually detonated..........

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: Jmman
You guys do realize that we have had several "broken arrows" over the years, nuclear devices that either were accidentally dropped from airplanes or were in planes that crashed and none of them actually detonated..........

Your point?

 

[Jmman]

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: Jmman
You guys do realize that we have had several "broken arrows" over the years, nuclear devices that either were accidentally dropped from airplanes or were in planes that crashed and none of them actually detonated..........

Your point?

My point is that some guy can't just flip a switch or accidentally touch the wrong dial and detonate one of these devices......

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: Jmman

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: Jmman
You guys do realize that we have had several "broken arrows" over the years, nuclear devices that either were accidentally dropped from airplanes or were in planes that crashed and none of them actually detonated..........

Your point?

My point is that some guy can't just flip a switch or accidentally touch the wrong dial and detonate one of these devices......

Did you bother to read the article?


"Weekly reports have noted a series of violations of authorized procedures. On Nov. 27, the company was fined $110,000 for safety violations involving excessive force used in 2004 in disassembling a W56 nuclear bomb ? an old design that lacks modern safety features."

 

[Jmman]

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: Jmman

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: Jmman
You guys do realize that we have had several "broken arrows" over the years, nuclear devices that either were accidentally dropped from airplanes or were in planes that crashed and none of them actually detonated..........

Your point?

My point is that some guy can't just flip a switch or accidentally touch the wrong dial and detonate one of these devices......

Pardon me if I don't necessarily believe everything that some "nonprofit watchdog" group states as fact......




Did you bother to read the article?

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: Jmman

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: Jmman

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: Jmman
You guys do realize that we have had several "broken arrows" over the years, nuclear devices that either were accidentally dropped from airplanes or were in planes that crashed and none of them actually detonated..........

Your point?

My point is that some guy can't just flip a switch or accidentally touch the wrong dial and detonate one of these devices......

Pardon me if I don't necessarily believe everything that some "nonprofit watchdog" group states as fact......




Did you bother to read the article?

Good God ignorance is bliss.

You realize the reporter was from Cox News?

Try the L.A. Times


I guess the fact that it was The U.S. Energy Department that levied the fine doesn't give you a bit of a clue either?

:roll:

 

[Jmman]

Just because the DOE levied a fine does not mean that a nuclear device was almost detonated. And the fact that the LA Times carries an article doesn't mean much to me either. If it was left up to them, we wouldn't even have nuclear weapons. They wouldn't have an agenda would they?