According to the USAF, the driver lost control of the truck because a “large insect” landed on the driver’s back. The truck was hauling Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile parts from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. Fortunately—and unlike other recent incidents that originated at the Minot Air Force base—the crash didn’t involve live nuclear parts. Or Mothra. [Danger Room]

The $US250 kit description says:

Detects radiation and significantly removes radioactive material from human skin and other surfaces after a dirty bomb attack or other radiological events.

It includes:

• Our proprietary and patent-pending Quick Decon Mass Effect™ solutions for Radiation Decontamination. These water-based liquids come in convenient-to-use color-coded 32 oz. bottles with accompanying trigger sprayers (2). Our solutions are made from cosmetic-grade, FDA-approved materials and are not radioactive before use.
• One quart (32 fl oz.) for Transition metals such as Cobalt, Cesium, Strontium and Thallium. See chart for all radioactive elements.
• One quart (32 fl oz.) for Actinides such as Uranium, Plutonium, Technetium and Radium. See chart for all radioactive elements.
• 2 RADTriage™ Personal Radiation Detectors
# Decontamination Rad-wipes (45 per package)
• Vinyl gloves for use during decontamination process (4 pairs)
• Rad-Waste Bags (2)
• Radioactive Material Caution Labels (2) for use with Rad-Waste Bags
• Radiacwash Towelettes (6)
• N95 Particulate Face Masks (4)
• Instructions for Use
• Instructions in PDF format
• Downloadable Material Safety Data Sheets
• MSDS for Transition Metals Solution
• MSDS for Actinide Solution
• Chart of Problematic Radioactive Elements showing Actinides and Transition Metals
• A convenient and sturdy yellow hard-plastic carrying case easily identifiable as the Dirty Bomb Emergency Kit™ by its yellow and purple label

After reading all that, somehow I have the feeling that I won’t need one of these in the case any dirty bomb explodes near me. I would just run around like a headless chicken, waiting for the people in the rad suits to arrive and get me into a bag. [Nukepills via Defense Tech]

That includes every single nuclear weapon, every one of the Russian Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles in ground silos, nuclear submarines and heavy bombers around the world. Scary stuff indeed.

But fear not, fellow humans, because the Dead Hand system is not completely automatic. The actual red button is apparently activated by a soldier hidden in some underground bunker.

Yes, I feel so much safer now. [gradremstroy—in Russian via DRB]

Are we clear on this? Steve Jobs doesn’t want to be seeing any nerve gas canisters with DRM-free iTunes Plus support. [Gear Live]

Good news people! The US army has confirmed that Israel has their very own circumcised version of Dr Manhattan’s schlong. Sources estimate a collection of 200 to 400 nuclear warheads.

After years of ignoring the Israeli nuclear program—which was denounced in 1986 by former nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu—the United States’ Department of Defence has acknowledged Israel nuclear power status for the first time.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of its own nuclear arsenal, but page 37 of the US Joint Forces Command report recognises the fact, putting it in the same group as Pakistan, India, China, North Korea, Russia, along with an “emerging Iran,” Taiwan, and Japan having “the capability to develop nuclear weapons quickly.”

According to “The Samson Option” report—an investigative article written by reporter Seymour Hersh—Israel may have 200 to 400 atomic warheads, ready to use as the last resort in case of a massive attack that may put in danger the existence of the country.

This is a big deal for two reasons: First, because the subject has been dodged forever by the US government, including President Barack Obama, who recently ignored the question when asked by White House correspondent Helen Thomas. And second, because to the Symington Amendment—which bans support to countries developing nuclear weapons—this may mean the end of US help to Israel.

Or maybe this just means that someone at the DOD will get fired and the report corrected with a big black marker.

It can go either way, and it will still be very bad news. [US Army PDF via DOD Buzz]

It happened in a frozen bay a few miles near the base. The rescue job was extremely difficult, as the documentation and video obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act shows. It took months for the government to collect thousands of pieces from the B-52–scattered all around the bay–plus 500 million gallons of ice, some of it radioactive.

For a while it was just a giant recovery operation, but then the real problems started. After trying to make sense of all the pieces they were able to gather, they discovered that something was missing. The new documents reveal that they were only able to find three out of the four nuclear bombs on board the plane. The possible reason: “Something melted through ice such as burning primary or secondary”.

Nevertheless, the government said all four weapons were destroyed and everything was ok. Meanwhile, in April the US government sent a Star III submarine to find the bomb, making the Danish government believe it was a “survey of bottom under the impact point”:

Fact that this operation includes search for object or missing weapon part is to be treated as confidential NOFORN [not to be disclosed to any foreign country]. For discussion with Danes, this operation should be referred to as a survey repeat survey of bottom under impact point.

The search was finally abandoned. According to William H Chambers, a former nuclear weapons designer at Los Alamos: “There was disappointment in what you might call a failure to return all of the components. It would be very difficult for anyone else to recover classified pieces if we couldn’t find them.” There you go, people. If you are ever attacked by a 45-foot high shrimp, remember to call Mr. Chambers and tell him that, apparently, our new crustacean overlords didn’t find it so difficult. [BBC News]

A B-plug is exactly that, a plug. Not any plug, though, but a steel security door located inside the cylindrical shaft that joins the access hatch–a heavily-armoured steel-and-concrete vault door that is operated by two hydraulic arms–with the lower equipment level. The B-plug acts as a block in the shaft, fitting inside the cylinder like a piston, which is secured and operated by an electromechanical actuator. The maintenance crews enters the silo through the hatch but, unless the B-plug is retracted, they can’t access the missile itself.

Reading the above twice, I feel dirty. What Boeing is doing is to make these B-plugs more secure with these kits, which has an “active delay device that allows personnel in the Minuteman Launch Facility to rapidly secure the facility from any of multiple locations.”

In other words, a $US65 million electronic key.

Boeing to Supply Security Systems for Minuteman III Launch Facilities
OGDEN, Utah, Oct. 20, 2008 — The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] announced today that it will manufacture and deliver control system hardware and modification kits to improve security at more than 450 Minuteman III facilities as part of the U.S. Air Force Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Security Modernization Program.

Boeing will perform the production work under a $10 million subcontract to Northrop Grumman Mission Systems. The 42-month firm-fixed-price and award-fee contract has a maximum value of approximately $27 million, when all priced options are included. This contract includes the second through fourth and final phases of the production contract. The total program value for production and development phases is approximately $65 million.

The security systems are called Fast Rising B-Plug Kits. Delivery of the kits under this phase of the contract is expected to begin in January 2009. Low-rate initial production began in 2005, and delivery of the first phase of full-rate production B-Plug Kits occurred in January 2008.

“The program improves the performance of the personnel access hatch that enables entry to the missile launch facilities, enhancing the secure operations and maintenance of the Minuteman III system,” said Kelly Johnson, Boeing ICBM Prime Ground and Weapons Systems program manager.

The mission of the Fast Rising B-Plug Kit program is to design, qualify and field a robust security system. The system provides an active delay device that allows personnel in the Minuteman Launch Facility to rapidly secure the facility from any of multiple locations.

The Fast Rising B-Plug Kit team has successfully completed design, integration testing, qualification testing and Initial Operating Capability, and provided support to U.S. Air Force-led installation teams at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., and Minot Air Force Base, N.D. To date, the team has delivered more than 25 percent of the 459 anticipated kits, continuing Boeing’s 50-year legacy of successful Minuteman ground systems deliveries, installations and modifications.

Like the Batman system, the more phones on the ground, the better, since it would be able to triangulate the source of radiation more accurately. Phones closest to the deadly stuff as they pass by would give off stronger signals, pinpointing where it’s at, or how it’s moving in real time. Also, the larger the scale of the project, the less the system would cost per phone—right now it’s around $US50-$US100 a phone. Blown up to a hundred million phones, the price would plummet.

Obviously, there are some major civil rights issues here, especially if you’re legally required to be a constantly lo-jacked, walking bomb detector for the Man. Newsweek suggests a more diplomatic and less creepy solution, where government agencies would pay you to opt-in. I think that’s one paycheck I’d have to pass on. [Newsweek]