Broken Arrow - Concern Over Atomic Health Hazards (San Francisco Chronicle, March 2, 1966) (Palomares, Spain)

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SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE Concern. over atbmic health hazards is no longer the key factor in America’s prodigious search for its missing, unarmed hydro gen bomb near Palomares Now the primary aim is national security. This is why the hunt will be press e d for the missing weapon or pieces of the weapon and other missing , equipment. Not until Wash ington officials are abso lutely certain that the su persecret flotsam and jet sam cannot i be found by -will the search end. The sinister spy thriller plots of Smersh; Spectre and Thrush may not be for real. But the concern of many American officials that wrong hands may pick up the atomic pieces near , Palomares is real. Even if the bomb were it mere is time, this Intact, it could not be usedi means prying open the dedimmediately. Most Ameri-i vices and setting the high can nuclear weapons now explosive afire. If there radar fuse and firing me-: Chunks ci^tlie exceedhij chanism. ly densp ard heavy ch^c rate mechanical and be doused with flammable ■ would undoubtedly benefit ^fAld tiel^S has^; use. These devices are to make an unarmed atomic t bomb. A bomb such as that prevent madmen—our own weapon inoperable was dis- now lost represents 23 American air- jatomic device just six I dial weapons-carrying t accidents. They range fr a freight tram deraibr near Marietta, fla., on P seizing and setting off an atomic weapon. carrying CODES plane burned on the runTbe reason why the way in Morocco. There was .bombs, such as those no atomic accident. 'aboard, the ill-fated B-52. Given all this, it is im could not be used immedi ately by unauthorized find ers is that before they can be armed two or more perIsons must receive proper There is little doubt that carrying two unarmed an American hydrogen clear weapons ^ear . it would countries; There is reason tn h-ias ducing nuclear weapons if American nuclear mat lack the scientific and^U^^-covered To date, there is no evi dence that sabotage was a sion of a B-52 bomber and ai KC-135 tanker on January Nor, to date, is there any evidence that the missing bomb or other devices have been recovered by “oth spirited out of Spain, If any key piece of the, bomb turned up elsewhere it would be readily identifi able as part of the missing weapon. This is so because every important part of ev ery American nuclear wea pon—and there are tens of its own serial number. Nonetheless, as long as there is the possibility, however remote, that the bomb or pieces1 of it might fall into the hands of anoth er country, officials here The reasons for worry J are many. They vary by Icountry involved and the Icondition of the bomb itlikely .that nuclear sophisti cated ‘ nations like Russia, Fran ce or Isrhil would want to use a single .codes, called Permissive) gen bomb,.;such as that [Action Links, to unlock the . missing in Spain. Rather protective' devices. Only they would want to study it. then can the sequence of As one qualified Ameri-1 lua‘ uie sewmme ami events begin that will end can official put it: “I would, technical atomic where in an atomic explosion, love to get my hands on a withal. One expert suggestJumping such PAL de- Russian weapon. Or a! ea because the technir vices would not be hard for , French one, for that mat-' power like Russia, which i What would most interest the Russians about an according to experts, is its may or may not use a simi lar fail-safe system. Even experts from lesser nuclear France, Israel or West Germany, could eventually arm such a bomb. But even in 'these cases, extreme care would have to be tak en by the finder not to set off the high explosive part of the bomb, especially if the bomb were damaged. Nuclear weapons can be booby-t rapped sot that someone prying them open would set off the high exclans in these countries would be relatively un-1 skilled, they would have to handle an intact nuclear | arming, fusing, and firing Here, the worry over the devices. use of an intact bomb is Weapons design/ still is more acute. In time, high one of America’s most closely held secrets. It is one of the few subjects ex cluded from cooperative explosive experts in any | number of such ; countries could figure out a way to | arm the bomb. Then, there military atomic agree- would be no sure safeguard ments between the United against the bomb’s use by States and its NATO allies, an angered - or deranged ic weapons experts believe Even if an intact bomb plosive or even an atomic that there is not much the ^ere 1101 armed for use_or; detonation. But .they are Russians do not already1’:)lac!imai1’ its Plutonium ! not. The reason is that this know about American would represent tempting l "would jeopardize American ^ atomic arms, some govern- arn°unts of the stuff of maintenance men who, ment officials are not as atomic bombs which many , from time to time, have to complacent. Their anxiety 110 a-auclear countries do take nuejear weapons amounts to this- not have or cannot afford, apart D.UDS An appreciable chunk of BURNING , Careful, expert study of Plutonium would give this also be an Achilles heel in ; and fires its weapons might- Hua, Which could melt the time of war if an enemy help the Russians devise man-made chemical down threatened to capture an electronic counter-m e a s- an(l re-fashion it into a American atomic weapon, ures that conceivably could -Apparently, in this event, turn American “bombs guards have orders to de- dropped in anger into duds, stroy the weapon by burn- it is for this reason, too,; ing. _ that search parties in Spain want to reclaim, if possi ble, the lost bomb’s armer, small atomic bomb.