How Did the C.I.A. Lose a Nuclear Device? A plutonium-packed generator disappeared on one of the world’s highest mountains in a covert mission that the U.S. will not talk about.
For anyone who hasn't read the article it wasn't a bomb and isn't enough nuclear material to make a bomb. You could maybe use it to make a dirty bomb, but there are almost certainly better options for that (E.G. scavenged radioactive sources from medical devices). It was a fairly standard radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) of the type used on many deep space probes and rarely on satellites as well as somewhat famously by the USSR in a lot of their remote installations. It's not enough material to really make anything out of, but frustratingly it is enough to be very dangerous to anyone that found it and didn't know what it was. There was a famous case some years back where some scavengers found one of the old Russian RTGs in an abandoned base and carried it off before they all became too sick from radiation poisoning and died.
25
🍉 Albert 🍉 - 5hr
speak for yourself. if it was me, I'll turn it into a laptop battery and will never have to charge my laptop. and if used on my lap, I wont need birth control.
5
fullsquare @awful.systems - 2hr
Sr-90 that was involved in cases you mention is strong beta emitter, but Pu-238 isn't, it's mostly-alpha emitter, so it'll only get dangerous if somebody ingests it, but it's a piece of ceramic inside a strong case
4
Basic Glitch - 2hr
The climbers scampered down the mountain after stashing the C.I.A. gear on a ledge of ice, abandoning a nuclear device that contained nearly a third of the total amount of plutonium used in the Nagasaki bomb.
It hasn’t been seen since.
And that was 1965.
2
fullsquare @awful.systems - 2hr
it's not the type of plutonium that is fissile, 40% of it decayed by now, and it was formed into hard, chemically resistant ceramic in the first place
5
Basic Glitch - 2hr
No, you're totally right. This is fine.
1
rockSlayer - 6hr
Wouldn't be the first time. There are at least 4 missing nukes on us soil, just waiting to be found
18
Zephorah @discuss.online - 7hr
In a book or movie it wouldn’t be lost, it would a heist or a sale. Lost is the coverup. In a book or a movie.
They lost a nuke in near savannah Georgia the state and it is still missing. They’ve lost them more times than anyone would be comfortable with knowing.
4
Thorry @feddit.org - 5hr
WTF? It's at the big arrow in the sky! Why don't they just go get it? Are they stupid?
3
Basic Glitch - 2hr
How Did the C.I.A. Lose a Nuclear Device?
Oh probably because they're incompetent as fuck?
Or they wanted to "lose" it because they were actually selling it to some insane rich villain in another country
3
fullsquare @awful.systems - 2hr
have you read the article
2
MojoMcJojo @lemmy.world - 8min
No. What happened?
1
tacosanonymous @mander.xyz - 4hr
Ferb, I know what we’re gonna do today!
2
huquad @lemmy.ml - 5hr
You want my nukes? You can have them! I left everything together in one place. Now you just have to find it!
1
CIA_chatbot @lemmy.world - 6hr
God damnit Steve, again? Fuck, you know how much paperwork I have to process now? And I find out about it on fucking lemmy?
silence7 in news @lemmy.world
How Did the C.I.A. Lose a Nuclear Device? A plutonium-packed generator disappeared on one of the world’s highest mountains in a covert mission that the U.S. will not talk about.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/12/13/world/asia/cia-nuclear-device-himalayas-nanda-devi.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8U8.aCDD.CKnFWhzjRsJRFor anyone who hasn't read the article it wasn't a bomb and isn't enough nuclear material to make a bomb. You could maybe use it to make a dirty bomb, but there are almost certainly better options for that (E.G. scavenged radioactive sources from medical devices). It was a fairly standard radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) of the type used on many deep space probes and rarely on satellites as well as somewhat famously by the USSR in a lot of their remote installations. It's not enough material to really make anything out of, but frustratingly it is enough to be very dangerous to anyone that found it and didn't know what it was. There was a famous case some years back where some scavengers found one of the old Russian RTGs in an abandoned base and carried it off before they all became too sick from radiation poisoning and died.
speak for yourself. if it was me, I'll turn it into a laptop battery and will never have to charge my laptop. and if used on my lap, I wont need birth control.
Sr-90 that was involved in cases you mention is strong beta emitter, but Pu-238 isn't, it's mostly-alpha emitter, so it'll only get dangerous if somebody ingests it, but it's a piece of ceramic inside a strong case
it's not the type of plutonium that is fissile, 40% of it decayed by now, and it was formed into hard, chemically resistant ceramic in the first place
No, you're totally right. This is fine.
Wouldn't be the first time. There are at least 4 missing nukes on us soil, just waiting to be found
In a book or movie it wouldn’t be lost, it would a heist or a sale. Lost is the coverup. In a book or a movie.
Broken Arrow
They lost a nuke in near savannah Georgia the state and it is still missing. They’ve lost them more times than anyone would be comfortable with knowing.
WTF? It's at the big arrow in the sky! Why don't they just go get it? Are they stupid?
Oh probably because they're incompetent as fuck?
Or they wanted to "lose" it because they were actually selling it to some insane rich villain in another country
have you read the article
No. What happened?
Ferb, I know what we’re gonna do today!
You want my nukes? You can have them! I left everything together in one place. Now you just have to find it!
God damnit Steve, again? Fuck, you know how much paperwork I have to process now? And I find out about it on fucking lemmy?