Energy official: 10,000 pound B53 bomb developed in another time for a different world, world is a safer place with its dismantlement.
By REUTERSB53 bomb (photo credit: Reuters)
SAN ANTONIO - The United States dismantled the oldest nuclear bomb in its Cold War arsenal - and one of the most powerful it ever built - on Tuesday as part of President Barack Obama's nuclear security policy.The magaton-class nuclear bomb the size of a minivan and weighing about 10,000 pounds was dismantled at a nuclear weapons storage facility outside Amarillo, Texas.RELATED:Russia says UN Iran report to strain nuclear talks"This was one of the largest bombs in the American arsenal," said Joshua McConaha, Public Affairs Director for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.He said the exact strength of the bomb - known as the B53 - remains classified, but it is believed to have been many hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.
Built at the height of the Cold War in the 1962, the bomb was designed to be dropped onto a target by a massive B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber. McConaha says it contained about 300 pounds of high explosive surrounding the uranium, referred to as 'the pit.'"The world is a safer place with this dismantlement," said Thomas D'Agostino, Under Secretary of Energy and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration."The B53 was a weapon developed in another time for adifferent world. Today, we are moving beyond the Cold Warnuclear weapons complex that built this type of weapons," hesaid.The process of eliminating the massive nuclear weapons, known as "the last of the big dogs," began 14 years ago.
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