Those may have been beagles.

Forget the 61, look at that beautiful B83 behind it.  

My dad was the Lead Engineer when they adapted the ALCM (was designed for the B-1A) to the B-52 after Carter killed the B-1A.

Dad is the big guy in the front row. This would have been in the late 70s.

I was driving from through Las Vegas yesterday.  South bound on I15 watched two B-52 circle around Nellis - very cool.  

I know, csb, but the first time I have ever seen a B-52 in the wild.  

Atomic Fucking Pork Rinds!

America Baby!

Some guys had air mattresses but most just had a Navy issue blanket on the steel deck.

What's the basis for that statement?

I've been there twice, the first time in 2000.  While there, a DOE cleanup crew showed up, their supervisor being the first one.  He and I talked for about a half hour or so on what the DOE was cleaning up at that time - it was the hydraulic oil they used to lubricate the drill stem while drilling the three holes (the CNTS was supposed to have a total of three nukes tested there, it all was stopped after the Faultless shot).  DOE was rehabilitating the three oil ponds at each drill site.  There was no nuclear cleaning or mention of any other oil on site.

Of the 1,054 nuclear test shots, Faultless is the only one that I can find that does not detail how big the nuke was.  DOE-209 Rev 15 just says "up to 1 MT".  Since it was primarily a site qualification shot, I don't understand the secrecy, expecially since it's been 47 years since the test.

Some pics of our 2008 trip:





Pic of the crater and the fault lines mentioned above in the background:

I know at least 5 of those people in your second pic.  For the life of me, I can't recall any other their names though.  I used to work in the 18-60 (or 18-64) building at the Kent Space Center in Kent, WA.  That building was specifically designed to build the AGM-86.  It was designed and built in the very early 80's.  When ALCM production stopped, Boeing Commercial took over the building since there was some very advanced 4- and 5-axis machining centers in the building.

picture of the all the naughty bits inside a B61... (Supposedly)


Just guessing what I'm looking at... And partially fishing for tasty recipes...

Clockwise from 12:00...
1- primary pit... Most likely a boosted weapon so there would be some tritium gas or something in there..
2- gold ball.. Neutron reflector? Gold plated beryllium maybe..
3-  tamper / pusher... (Bowl with holes) maybe secondary blast shield..
4 & 5 - bowl shaped objects... Pusher/tamper or neutron reflectors... Could be anything from beryllium, steel, aluminum or u-235
6- large gold ball on left... Primary neutron reflector.. 2 small holes are for the neutron source I would guess.. It's a dail-a-yield so multiple sources would be needed.
7- all the cylinder things in the middle would make up the secondary... Thicker hollow cylinder u-238 and would be filled with lithium-6 and the Pu-239 "spark plug" would go inside... Spark plug may be the smaller diameter chunk middle right.. The other cylinder shaped objects most likely make up some part of the secondary shield or are some kind of mechanism to keep the secondary from firing when the yield is dialed low..
8- snowflake looking washer things... Don't know.. Maybe to keep the pit levitated and designed to help control / spread neutrons...

That should be good for at least an appetizer and main course....

Any one read in on CNWDI is not going to confirm nor deny what is there one way or another.

I did that.
It was pretty cool.
That crater is massive.
I have a picture of me standing in front of one of those houses they built to test the effects of the blast.

I've never seen pics the inside of a physics package other than a pit...  Anything about a secondary is just a guess...
I wasn't sure if the outter case was fissionable material or not..  Assuming not as it is a low yield weapon and IIRC they can get more than half the yield from a 238 or 239 case...

You know what really kicks ass? Nachos from a roach coach when you order in Spanish after waiting 30 minutes.

"It is believed there are 200 B61 bombs actively in use by the United States."


"Actively in use"? I think not (or there'd be a lot less unfriendlys in the world ).


And why all the 'controversy' about the tests? Never stated in the article...

Or it will kick your ass.

Because "OMG THEY'RE TESTING NUCLEAR WEAPONS!"  Remember, there is a significantly vocal segment of the population that would welcome a US "nuclear zero," to set an example for others (*cough Iran cough *) to follow.  

In 2004, I had a conversation with a Congressional staffer, as we tried to educate her on the USAF nuclear mission.  

One of the discussion items was the USAF request for upgrades to the W76, a SLEP to the B61 and RNEP.  

The staffer's position:  "If you upgrade them, you'll just want to use them."

I could not see teaching her a semester's worth of deterrence theory in the hour we had with her, in order to show her why her statement was so very, very wrong.

Staffer? Clearance? Really?

It was an unclassified brief.

Doc Brown could put all that in a hot water heater and sell it to the Iranians.