Countdown To Zero Page #3

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melting a nuclear warhead.

In 1968, the USS Scorpion

sank

of Azores.

Nuclear weapons on board

were never found.

A B-47 bomber disappeared

over the Mediterranean.

Nuclear weapons on board

were never located.

In 1959, an aircraft crashed near

Whidbey Island, Washington.

The nuclear debt charges

were not recovered.

Skyhawk's strike aircraft

carrying a nuclear weapon

rolled off an aircraft carrier

in the Sea of Japan

The weapon was never recovered.

There are many ways

in which efforts

to make a system

more reliable

actually backfire and make it less reliable

Sometimes we had

a redundant system.

and backup systems

so that if one fails,

another can take its place.

But complexity is the

enemy of reliability.

Because as you add

system is making more complex

because its harder to understand

all the potential interactions.

Its that unlikely bizzare interaction

where one person interacts with

another in a way that wasnt anticipated

or one backup system interacts

with another

in ways that you cant figure out ahead of time

and therefore cant plan around

Those are what cause the problems

In 1961, a B-52

broke apart in midair

over Goldsboro,

North Carolina

causing two nuclear bombs to fall

One parachute functioned properly,

and that bomb survived with minor damage

The other parachute failed to open

When that bomb hit

five of six safety devices malfuntioned

A single switch prevented

a nuclear explosion.

When i worked

in the Pentagon

i believed that the likelyhood

of a nuclear weapons accident

in the United States occuring was very low

I still believe that

But low probablity events happen

they happen all the time.

There's a first time in

history for every event.

Eventually those low probablity events will occur

No! That supposed to happen?

Like there is probably

every country in the world today

How many countries do i think

have nuclear weapons?

- List them?

- China.

I dont think i suckup for this.

- UK. may be

America i'm guessing

Oh. Oh. Us Oh

I .. that was a given

- France.

- Germany?

- Australia?

- Canada? I do not think Canada

- No, not Japan.

- There's more. I know there's more.

Iraq, Iran,

Saudi Arabia.

All other countries. They are not

telling us. They have them

- Afghanistan?

- North Korea?

- North Korea.

-Do they?Ok, North Korea.

Who knows?Who knows exactly?

I think that's it.Yeah

After the United States detonated.

the first atomic bomb

in the New Mexico desert

nuclear technology

began to spread

and other countries

began to acquire

their own

nuclear bombs.

Great credit is due

for this mighty British achievement

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