Genesplicer posted:

There was also a concrete bunker located somewhere on the base, nobody seems to recall where and the records were lost, where they dumped hundreds of gallons of glow-in-the-dark, Radium-based paint.

quote:

SGTs, and the Safe Secure Trailers (SSTs) they tow, are described by the NNSA as "technologically advanced vehicles" that have the capability to safely withstand punishing highway accidents and keep cargo safe in the event of complete immolation of the vehicle. If a SGT comes under attack, unspecified security features in the vehicles give them, according to the NNSA, the capability to "surprise and delay even the most aggressive adversary". The full range of defensive components in SGTs is unknown, but according to some media reports the vehicles are equipped with autonomous weapons systems and other "high-tech surprises" that allow them to independently engage and repel attackers even if all human crew have been killed or disabled. The NNSA has also stated that access to nuclear weapons held within a SST is not possible, even for crew members, due to unspecified security features that prevent the doors from being opened except in "an approved security area".[2][5][6]

To frustrate easy identification of nuclear weapons convoys and deter potential hijack or attack, SGTs do not display any unique livery or other markings, and are purpose-built to mirror the appearance of civilian tractor-trailers.[1][2]

When traveling, the tractor and trailer are typically escorted by three dark colored Chevrolet Suburbans, each containing four armed crew members. Additionally, all missions include heavily armed aerial support. The semi-tractor(STG) itself is heavily armored, and equipped with a Caterpillar diesel engine coupled to an automatic transmission. The cab-over tractor is a sleeper design, but instead of a bed, it has two seats containing additional armed support crew. The tractor also contains firing ports, run flat tires, and automatic sanders for slick roads.

The tractor and support vehicles are in constant contact with their dispatch, including real-time video streams of their journey. Local law enforcement is typically informed of a "special mission" coming through their sector, although they may not be informed as to the specifics of the mission.

The transport trailer (SST) is the width of a standard trailer (96 inches or 8 Feet). While the trailer appears conventional from the outside, the back doors are over 12" thick, and an average-sized male can put their arms out from their sides and lay their palms flat against the wall. There are three sets of nozzles coming out of the ceiling. One nozzle purges the air out, the other nozzle fills the trailer with a noxious chemical to disable an attacker. This system can be activated from the cab of the truck, by any one of the escort teams (each vehicle is a team), or from dispatch. Finally there is an inclinometer - if the trailer becomes off level by a certain degree, the entire inside of the trailer is filled with expanding, fast-hardening foam.

quote:

On July 25, 1991, drivers traveling south along Highway 83 past Bismark, North Dakota came across an odd sight, a seemingly innocuous tractor trailer truck stopped along the road, guarded by police and heavily armed federal agents and leaking smoking goop. What local residents didn’t necessarily know – and the Department of Energy wouldn’t tell them at the time – was that they had seen a specialized truck for discreetly carrying nuclear weapons and other radioactive cargoes. These tractor trailers are booby trapped with countermeasures such as immobilizing foam and self-destruct systems, which all sound right out of a Hollywood blockbuster. They belong to the Office of Secure Transportation (OST), which has a checkered record of safety and disciplinary issues.

[...]
“There are several things going on where the truck is and we’re looking at that area,” was the cryptic response Ben McCarty, a Department of Energy spokesperson, gave the Bismark Tribune when they asked for answers following the 1991 incident. “We have operational responsibility for the vehicles and we’re checking it thoroughly.”

Given the sensitivity of the cargo, which remains classified, McCarty no doubt wouldn’t or couldn’t divulge much else. According to a heavily redacted declassified version of the official incident report, he was also speaking in such vague language in no small part because no one exactly knew what had happened initially. Martin Pfeiffer, a PhD candidate at the University of New Mexico researching nuclear weapons, obtained a copy of the record and graciously posted it online.

The Department of Energy’s internal review says all that was immediately clear to the guards at the scene was that the truck’s elaborate protective features had gone off inadvertently. Everyone was in such a hurry to get the classified cargo out of the area that they sealed everything up, got it mobile, and rushed it off to nearby Minot Air Force Base for further evaluation.

quote:

In particular, after poring over the incident, investigators found a fault in one part, called the MA-157, which had gone unnoticed since the first trailers rolled off the conversion line more than a decade earlier. Censors redacted what this part is exactly, but it appears to be part of the circuitry that controlled the defensive countermeasures.

“Potential spurious output by the MA-157 units was an unknown failure mode prior to the testing and analysis that followed the July 25, 1991, premature activation,” the subsequent review explained. “This premature output could be a function of the age of these units.”

OST began receiving the SSTs in the 1970s. However, this explanation seemed unlikely.

“The original drawings of the MA-157s contain errors (such as a resistor values), which were not detected until the July 26, 1991, activation,” the report continued. “The problem stems from inadequate configuration control, verification of accuracy, etc. during the design process.”

These inaccurate drawings meant that even if the original components had arrived assembled as intended, maintenance crews had likely been inadvertently repairing and reinstalling them wrong ever since. It might’ve seemed a wonder that there hadn’t been more accidents, except that there had been, even just in 1991.

A month before the breakdown in North Dakota, another convoy driving through Kansas saw two of its three SSTs suffer a malfunction in their emergency braking system. One of these trailers was the same one that broke down near Bismark.

dr_rat posted:

Yep, Blue Sky Mine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofrqm6-LCqs

good song.

twistedmentat posted:

It's amazing how much Australian history you can get by listening to their songs.

mostlygray posted:

When the first BPA study came out, my Mom and Dad freaked out on me and made me buy BPA free

twistedmentat posted:

It's amazing how much Australian history you can get by listening to their songs.

Asimo posted:

The department of energy doesn't sound very exciting until you realize it's essentially meant to be "department of nuclear energy" and then DoE commandos make more sense.

Memento posted:

"Did my time in Vietnam, still mad at Uncle Sam" is a solid song lyric.

drgitlin posted:

It would be if Vietnam and Sam rhymed

UCS Hellmaker posted:

I'd like you to really think about this statement, where we would detonate a nuclear warhead on site in open air if something occurred. Even if it was just a normal chemical one where we detonate and seed the surrounding area with nuclear material.

Sagebrush posted:

i googled some stuff and



this is like at least 50% horseshit right? self-destructing axles? cement dispensers? fighter jets?

GotLag posted:

If the aim is to prevent the nuclear weapon from falling in to the wrong hands why not simply detonate it if the vehicle stops unexpectedly?

Sagebrush posted:

i googled some stuff and

this is like at least 50% horseshit right? self-destructing axles? cement dispensers? fighter jets?

rotinaj posted:

"oh poo poo, that Audi isn't letting us merge!"

CommieGIR posted:

No need. There is a self-destruct inside the warhead that renders the warhead useless without full reconstruction, between that and the expanding foam, it makes ambushing it to acquire a warhead a fruitless endeavor.

Cojawfee posted:

By the time the terries dig into the foam to get the nuclear material, another nuke will be launched to destroy the lost one.

CommieGIR posted:

No need. There is a self-destruct inside the warhead that renders the warhead useless without full reconstruction, between that and the expanding foam, it makes ambushing it to acquire a warhead a fruitless endeavor.

Aramoro posted:

hmmm no there's still viable nuclear material inside the warhead. Full on denotation, it's the only way to be sure.

CommieGIR posted:

No need. There is a self-destruct inside the warhead that renders the warhead useless without full reconstruction, between that and the expanding foam, it makes ambushing it to acquire a warhead a fruitless endeavor.

Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:

Not to interrupt Speed but with a nuke chat, but I saw this in the wild the other day. It's OSHA adjacent. And also just

Jusupov posted:

That's what you put on the new guys car

Azhais posted:

That's what you put on the car after not using a proper facemask while sanding drywall for years

PhazonLink posted:

what if the helicopter had another nuke and the pilots were instructed to crash into the truck to double nuke the nuke?



(or the truck and bomb jump high enouh into the air to get optimal coverage)

Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:

Not to interrupt Speed but with a nuke chat, but I saw this in the wild the other day. It's OSHA adjacent. And also just

C.M. Kruger posted:

The NNSA has also stated that access to nuclear weapons held within a SST is not possible, even for crew members, due to unspecified security features that prevent the doors from being opened except in "an approved security area".

GotLag posted:

If the aim is to prevent the nuclear weapon from falling in to the wrong hands why not simply detonate it if the vehicle stops unexpectedly?

Hardon Crime posted:

i'm laughing imagining some dude just bawling his eyes out while putting up drywall

`Nemesis posted: