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Warhead Awaits ExaminationAMARILLO. Texas tAP) - A damaged nuclear warhead blown from a Titan II missile silo in Arkansas is awaiting examination at an atomic weapons assembly plant in TexasThe warhead believed to be among the largest in the U.S. nucl«*ar arsenal - arrived about 2 pin Tuesday at Amarillo International Airport aboard a C-141 jet transporl that had taken off from Little Hock Air Force Base. The plane was from an aircraft unit at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey and was especially equipped for carrying nuclear warheadsA large security force and a convoy of gray trucks from the Pantex nuclear weapons assembly plant greeted the jet at the airport. There, the warhead was “latched dow'n” for the overland trip to the plant about five miles away, said Claud (jay. chief of the Energy Department's administrative branch at the plant.Paul R. Wagner, the ranking Energy Department official at Pantex. has said the “damaged warhead will be disassembled or analyzed at the plant.The Pantex facility is operated bya private contractor under the direction of the Energy Department. Nuclear material from past military accidents, including B-52 bomber crashes in Spain and Greenland, has been sent to Pantex for storage.Following a long-standing practice, the Air Force has continued to refuse to sav whether a nuclear device was involved in the Fridavwmorning explosion at the missile site four miles north of Damascus in north-central Arkansas.The explosion, caused by a dropped wrench socket that touched off a fuel leak eight and a half hours before the explosion, killed an Air Force sergeant and injured 21 others.In the Damascus area Tuesday, Air Force personnel were going house-to-house to see if they could be of assistance to residents who were evacuated Thursday night and Friday morning when a leak developed and then the explosion occurred at the Titan site.On the site itself, Lt. Col. Tom Cooper said explosives teams had searched the area several times and still had not found five small explosive devices that are part of the missile's guidance and separationsystem.Cooper said the devices likely burned.“I really don’t think there’s anything out there,” he said.Capt. Don Schaeffer, an Air Force public affairs officer, said authorities were continuing to monitor the air for any dangerous fuel vapors. None had been detected, he said.Overall, about 40 Damascusarea residents have picked up damage or injury claim forms relating to the explosion, said Capt. Whitney Pederson, an Air Force lawyer claims officer.Pederson said most of the complaints are about broken plaster and roken glass.He said residents have two years to file claims in the incident.The nuclear warhead — referred to only as “it” in radio transmissions — left the Damascus site at 7:30a.m. Monday in an Air Force convoy bound for Little Rock Air Force Base.Before the warhead was moved, technicians opened it and poured in a special oil mixture to neutralize the detonator, which is composed ofhigh explosives, according to a defense official quoted in the New York Times.Controversy continued Tuesday about the Air Force’s handling of the crisis.Rep. Bill Alexander, D-Ark,, whose district includes the silo site, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Harold Brown. The letter asked why Air Force personnel advised law enforcement officials that “everything was under control” at the Titan silo at 11 p.m. Tuesday even though conditions of heat and pressure readings within an hour were sufficiently high to cause some concern about an explosion.After the 3:01 a.m. explosion, about 1,400 residents were hastily evacuated.Alexander’s letter also said: “If we cannot effectively address those problems, then I suggest that it may not be too early to start looking for a replacement (to the Titan II system).”Alexander was scheduled to tour the Titan site near Damascus today along with Rep. Ed Bethune, R-Ark., and House staff defense experts.
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Blytheville Courier News
Blytheville, Arkansas, US
Wed, Sep 24, 1980
Page 2
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Arkansas S.
AR, USA 14 Feb 2020
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