It’s time to bid farewell to the last B53 bomb in America. Disassembly of the country’s most powerful remaining nuclear bomb – touted to be six hundred times stronger than the one dropped on Hiroshima – started yesterday at the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas. The B53 that was put into service back in 1962, weights 10,000 pounds and was the size of a minivan. If you’re wondering why it was so powerful and huge, it’s because back then the size of the bomb had to compensate for its lack of accuracy. It was designed to destroy facilities deep underground and was carried by B-52 bombers.
Since the B53 will be no more, next in line to be the most powerful bomb in the US is the B83 which is rated to be 1.2 megatons (the B53 was 9 megatons). But let’s hope we’ll never have to see these weapons put to use in the future.
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