Word: silos
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Some of the opposition believe that Safeguard could be shelved by substantially hardening ICBM sites at a smaller cost ($6 billion to $7 billion). The Pentagon wants to do that in addition to Safeguard; the Air Force is already seeking out "hard rock" silo locations that would make ICBMs more resistant even to multimegaton near misses. Wiesner, Rathjens and Weinberg suggest that the number of ICBMs could be doubled for the price of Safeguard, which would mean that more than 1,000 missiles would survive an attack by the 420 SS-9s that the Pentagon's Foster hypothesized. Wohlstetter...
...splashed into the Pacific, the missile delivered three separate warheads. Since the SS-9, with a multiple warhead, can carry up to 15 megatons, Defense Department officials warn that it is a serious threat to U.S. missile installations. A five-megaton blast within a mile of a missile silo will destroy...
...safety aspects of Sentinel. In fact, there has been no unintentional nuclear explosion in the U.S. since the birth of the atomic age. Even when nuclear bombers crashed, their weapons failed to detonate. Says one Pentagon official: "The only way to cause a nuclear explosion in an ABM silo would be to have a specialist climb in, rewire the warhead, getting around all those safety devices, and then bring in additional power. There are so many safety devices on it that we only hope it will go off once it is launched...
...weeks last October, Air Force crews tried to test-fire their Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile at its silo in Grand Forks, N. Dak. On each of three attempts, its systems control light went red-meaning that the elaborate three-stage bird was unable or unsafe to fire. First it was a failure of a nozzle-control unit, then a glitch in a fail-safe arming circuit, then a guidance failure traced to a tiny capacitor...
Sewer to Kitchen. Rats' appetites are a cause of human starvation. The World Health Organization puts the worldwide loss of stored cereals at 33 million tons a year-enough to feed some 200 million people. Rats in a silo may eat only a few bushels of grain, but their droppings and hair make a far greater quantity unfit for human consumption...