Nuclear accidentsResponders provide technical expertise in case of nuclear weapons accidents

Published 30 November 2018

Decades ago, technical experts from the national labs responded in an ad hoc manner to accidents involving nuclear weapons, called “broken arrows.” Thirty-two such accidents have occurred since the 1950s, so the Accident Response Group at Sandia Lab was created about five decades ago to provide technical expertise in assessing and safely resolving nuclear weapons accidents.

Decades ago, technical experts from the national labs responded in an ad hoc manner to accidents involving nuclear weapons, called “broken arrows.”

Thirty-two such accidents have occurred since the 1950s, so the Accident Response Group was created about five decades ago to provide technical expertise in assessing and safely resolving nuclear weapons accidents.

“With the resources the Department of Energy can bring in the form of ARG, rest assured there will be a safe weapon recovery,” said Harry Cincotta, ARG project lead at Sandia National Laboratories. “If ARG does have to respond, we are ready, and we’re bringing the best scientific minds in nuclear weapons on the planet with us.”

Although U.S. nuclear weapons are managed with great care in maintenance and transportation, ARG’s manager Bill Beenau said ARG is prepared to respond in the event of any extraordinary circumstance.

ARG leadership recently celebrated the realignment of the ARG program into the Military Liaison Department. The realignment will build off of the existing relationships the Military Liaison Department has with the Department of Defense, and enhance ARG’s existing technical relationships with DOD maintenance and explosive ordnance disposal groups. Ultimately, this will improve awareness of the technical expertise ARG brings to the table, should an accident happen.

“Our weapons are the safest in the world,” said Dan Summers, a longtime ARG volunteer who has focused on nuclear weapons surety for decades. “They have tremendous safety features, and we consider a variety of accident conditions when designing and testing them, including fire, crushing damage, even weather events.”

ARG safely assesses, recovers nuclear weapons damaged in accidents
Sandia Lab says that ARG brings together diverse experts in nuclear weapons and health and safety from Sandia, Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos national laboratories as well as the Remote Sensing Laboratory and Pantex Plant. Each facility has its own area of expertise. The physics labs — Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore — focus on the nuclear package. As the nuclear engineering lab, Sandia focuses on the whole weapon, Beenau said.