Nuclear Weapons Trivia

[Mike McFarlin]

Here are some interesting facts about nuclear weapons:


1.  A nuclear weapon derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions of fusion or fission. As a result, even a nuclear weapon with a small yield is significantly more powerful than the largest conventional explosives, and a single weapon is capable of destroying an entire city.
2.  There are two basic types of nuclear weapons: atomic (A) bombs and hydrogen (H) bombs
3.  Cost of the Manhattan Project (through August 1945): $20,000,000,000
4.  Total number of nuclear missiles built, 1951-present: 67,500
5.  Estimated construction costs for more than 1,000 ICBM launch pads and silos, and support facilities, from 1957-1964: nearly $14,000,000,000
6.  Total number of nuclear bombers built, 1945-present: 4,680
7.  Peak number of nuclear warheads and bombs in the stockpile/year: 32,193/1966
8.  Total number and types of nuclear warheads and bombs built, 1945-1990: more than 70,000/65 types
9.  Number currently in the stockpile (2002): 10,600 (7,982 deployed, 2,700 hedge/contingency stockpile)
10.  Number of nuclear warheads requested by the Army in 1956 and 1957: 151,000
11.  Projected operational U.S. strategic nuclear warheads and bombs after full enactment of the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty in 2012: 1,700-2,200
12.  Additional strategic and non-strategic warheads not limited by the treaty that the U.S. military wants to retain as a "hedge" against unforeseen future threats: 4,900
13.  Largest and smallest nuclear bombs ever deployed: B17/B24 (~42,000 lbs., 10-15 megatons); W54 (51 lbs., .01 kilotons, .02 kilotons-1 kiloton)
14.  Peak number of operating domestic uranium mines (1955): 925
15.  Fissile material produced: 104 metric tons of plutonium and 994 metric tons of highly-enriched uranium
16.  Amount of plutonium still in weapons: 43 metric tons
17.  Number of thermometers which could be filled with mercury used to produce lithium-6 at the Oak Ridge Reservation: 11 billion
18.  Number of dismantled plutonium "pits" stored at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas: 12,067 (as of May 6, 1999)
19.  States with the largest number of nuclear weapons (in 1999): New Mexico (2,450), Georgia (2,000), Washington (1,685), Nevada (1,350), and North Dakota (1,140)
20.  Total known land area occupied by U.S. nuclear weapons bases and facilities: 15,654 square miles
21.  Total land area of the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, and New Jersey: 15,357 square miles
22.  Legal fees paid by the Department of Energy to fight lawsuits from workers and private citizens concerning nuclear weapons production and testing activities, from October 1990 through March 1995: $97,000,000
23.  Money paid by the State Department to Japan following fallout from the 1954 "Bravo" test: $15,300,000
24.  Money and non-monetary compensation paid by the the United States to Marshallese Islanders since 1956 to redress damages from nuclear testing: at least $759,000,000
25.  Money paid to U.S. citizens under the Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act of 1990, as of January 13, 1998: approximately $225,000,000 (6,336 claims approved; 3,156 denied)
26.  Total cost of the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) program, 1946-1961: $7,000,000,000
27.  Total number of nuclear-powered aircraft and airplane hangars built: 0 and 1
28.  Number of secret Presidential Emergency Facilities built for use during and after a nuclear war: more than 75
29.  Currency stored until 1988 by the Federal Reserve at its Mount Pony facility for use after a nuclear war: more than $2,000,000,000
30.  Amount of silver in tons once used at the Oak Ridge, TN, Y-12 Plant for electrical magnet coils: 14,700
31.  Total number of U.S. nuclear weapons tests, 1945-1992: 1,030 (1,125 nuclear devices detonated; 24 additional joint tests with Great Britain)
32.  First and last test: July 16, 1945 ("Trinity") and September 23, 1992 ("Divider")
33.  Estimated amount spent between October 1, 1992 and October 1, 1995 on nuclear testing activities: $1,200,000,000 (0 tests)
34.  Cost of 1946 Operation Crossroads weapons tests ("Able" and "Baker") at Bikini Atoll: $1,300,000,000
35.  Largest U.S. explosion/date: 15 Megatons/March 1, 1954 ("Bravo")
36.  Number of islands in Enewetak atoll vaporized-37
37.  Number of nuclear tests in the Pacific: 106
38.  Number of U.S. nuclear tests in Nevada: 911
39.  Number of nuclear weapons tests in Alaska [1, 2, and 3], Colorado [1 and 2], Mississippi and New Mexico [1, 2 and 3]: 10
40.  Operational naval nuclear propulsion reactors vs. operational commercial power reactors (in 1999): 129 vs. 108
41.  Number of attack (SSN) and ballistic missile (SSBN) submarines (2002): 53 SSNs and 18 SSBNs
42.  Number of high level radioactive waste tanks in Washington, Idaho and South Carolina: 239
43.  Volume in cubic meters of radioactive waste resulting from weapons activities: 104,000,000
44.  Number of designated targets for U.S. weapons in the Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP) in 1976, 1986, and 1995: 25,000 (1976), 16,000 (1986) and 2,500 (1995)
45.  Cost of January 17, 1966 nuclear weapons accident over Palomares, Spain (including two lost planes, an extended search and recovery effort, waste disposal in the U.S. and settlement claims): $182,000,000
46.  Number of U.S. nuclear bombs lost in accidents and never recovered: 11
47.  Number of Department of Energy federal employees (in 1996): 18,608
48.  Number of Department of Energy contractor employees (in 1996): 109,242
49.  Minimum number of classified pages estimated to be in the Department of Energy's possession (1995): 280 million
50.  Ballistic missile defense spending in 1965 vs. 1995: $2,200,000,000 vs. $2,600,000,000
51.  Average cost per warhead to the U.S. to help Kazakhstan dismantle 104 SS-18 ICBMs carrying more than 1,000 warheads: $70,000
52.  Estimated 1998 spending on all U.S. nuclear weapons and weapons-related programs: $35,100,000,000




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