Texas: The United States has defused the country’s most powerful nuclear bomb, B53, Tuesday.
The 10,000 pound, minivan-sized weapon was considered 600 times more powerful than the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, and was assemble during the Cold War.
On Tuesday afternoon, workers at the Pantex Plant removed the uranium from the bomb, officially dismantling the last of the US’s largest nuclear bombs.
Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman called the dismantlement a “milestone accomplishment” as he watched the technicians at work on Tuesday, Associated Press reported.
The Pantex Plant, where the bomb was taken apart, is 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, Texas, and maintains the safety of the US nuclear weapons stockpile for the Energy Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration.
According to the NNSA, the dismantlement of the B53 presented a challenge because of its size and the materials that were used.
President Barack Obama has vowed to reduce the number of nuclear weapons — as the NNSA points out. Speaking in Prague in April 2009, the president said the US will “reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy and urge others to do the same.”
“The dismantlement of the last remaining B53 ensures that the system will never again be part of the US nuclear weapons stockpile,” the NNSA said.
The most powerful nuclear bomb in the US now is the 1.2-megaton B83.
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