AHC: accidental atomic detonation stateside before Hiroshima

The discussion in this thread about the possibility of some sort of accident with Fermi's with the Chicago Pile of 1942 reminded me of the old conspiracy theories about the Port Chicago Disaster actually being either a test or accidental detonation of an atomic bomb.

Vogel's been busted pretty well, as far as I know. But there have been numerous fatal criticallity accidents.

So, your challenge is: sometime between Early 1942 and August 6, 1945, have an accidental atomic detonation in the continental US. Extra points if it's in either Chicago or Port Chicago.
 
Kind of difficult. The most obvious candidate is the Little Boy bomb* but the device was shipped dissassembled for precisely this reason...

A reactor going off like a nuke isn't going to happen, thats a bit of a pop culture concept that doesn't actually have basis in reality.

*Gun-type Designs are pretty much the only kind of nuclear weapons that can be detonated with no outside input.
 
Kind of difficult. The most obvious candidate is the Little Boy bomb* but the device was shipped dissassembled for precisely this reason...

A reactor going off like a nuke isn't going to happen, thats a bit of a pop culture concept that doesn't actually have basis in reality.

*Gun-type Designs are pretty much the only kind of nuclear weapons that can be detonated with no outside input.

Yeah, I knew it wouldn't be easy, hence the challenge.
 
Hmm, easiest way I can think of would be some sort of major screw-up while setting up for the Trinity test resulting in that device initiating before it's supposed to
 

Pangur

Donor
Hmm, easiest way I can think of would be some sort of major screw-up while setting up for the Trinity test resulting in that device initiating before it's supposed to

That would give you the big bang in the middle of the desert, right place wrong time if you like.

There were very very careful how they handled the weapons to the point that neither weapon that were dropped were armed until the aircraft carrying them were on there way to the target. I would go as as to refuse to believe that the weapons were not handled just as carefully from initial assembly to shipping to the war zone.

It may be possible that there could be a stuff up in Chicago however that;s wont give you an atomic detonation rather a god awful mess with radioactive material spread around the immediate area.
 
The discussion in this thread about the possibility of some sort of accident with Fermi's with the Chicago Pile of 1942 reminded me of the old conspiracy theories about the Port Chicago Disaster actually being either a test or accidental detonation of an atomic bomb.

Vogel's been busted pretty well, as far as I know. But there have been numerous fatal criticallity accidents.

So, your challenge is: sometime between Early 1942 and August 6, 1945, have an accidental atomic detonation in the continental US. Extra points if it's in either Chicago or Port Chicago.

TBH, the Port Chicago Incident has interested me for quite some time now.....could an accident in fact, have occurred? I won't go into detail about my hypothesis since it might possibly breach the rules(no, it doesn't involve Zionists, Masons, the Illuminati, or 'Tall Greys' or any of that nonsense :p).

You will definitely need to either change or get rid of that second link, though: that site has all sorts of material which could make the mods suspect the worst of you. Just a friendly warning, that's all. :eek:
 
Kind of difficult. The most obvious candidate is the Little Boy bomb* but the device was shipped dissassembled for precisely this reason...

A reactor going off like a nuke isn't going to happen, thats a bit of a pop culture concept that doesn't actually have basis in reality.

*Gun-type Designs are pretty much the only kind of nuclear weapons that can be detonated with no outside input.

That misconception always bothered me.
 
Yeah, they were incredibly careful, though they did think it was possible that a bomb could self-detonate if the bomber carrying it crashed on take off at Tinian, or on emergency setdown at the strip on Iwo Jima (depite the fact the fissionable material was kept 'unprimed' until the planned bomb runs over the Japanese cities.)
 
Does anyone know if the Trinity bomb was assembled on the ground or only after being hoisted up the tower? Because a premature detonation on the surface would make a lot more fallout, potentially enough to spread off-site. (I have a vague memory of reading somewhere that they were worried about it being struck by lightning, but that may just be my brain playing tricks on me. Stupid brain...)
 

BlondieBC

Banned
Have the ground crew for the Enola Gay arm the bomb on the ground. The some short can set it off on the runway.

Or have a short accidentally trigger the bomb in route to Japan.
 

ccdsah

Donor
Does anyone know if the Trinity bomb was assembled on the ground or only after being hoisted up the tower? Because a premature detonation on the surface would make a lot more fallout, potentially enough to spread off-site. (I have a vague memory of reading somewhere that they were worried about it being struck by lightning, but that may just be my brain playing tricks on me. Stupid brain...)

Trinity bomb was plutonium implosion type much more secure than Uranium gun type, so no...
 
Trinity bomb was plutonium implosion type much more secure than Uranium gun type, so no...

You can at least get a fizzle out of a plutonium imploder. I don't know if there's any way to have the detonators fire fully by accident, so I don't know if you can get a full blast, but an accidental firing of a single detonator could still get you a sub-kiloton yield and some fallout.
 
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