The Loose Nukes: 2024

About this Blog

The Loose Nukes is an attempt (by people who should probably be under 24 hour supervised psychiatric care) to bring attention to somewhat serious issues like nuclear weapons, militarism and other seemingly random, unrelated issues through vain attempts at social satire and other futile gestures of total contempt for a fading empire that continues to employ nuclear weapons, the ultimate instruments of an erectile dysfunctional national security state, as instruments of foreign policy. OK, you probably get the idea by now. We are obsessed by run-on sentences, peace and justice, having fun, and don't know when to quit. At any rate, we don't think nuclear weapons are a very good idea, and are most definitely unhealthy for living things. We also think the folks running this Empire should just get over it.

And now the NOT SO FINE PRINT: Read further at your own risk... and remember, DON'T PANIC; this is all SATIRE at its worst (or best, depending on one's mental state)! And some of the stuff in here is even true!!!

Wednesday, June 26, 2024

(Reuters) - A fire that caused an estimated $400 million in damage to a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarine docked in Maine may have been caused by a vacuum cleaner, authorities said on Wednesday.

The fire in the forward compartment - which includes crew living, command and control spaces and the torpedo room - of the USS Miami on May 23 took about 12 hours to extinguish and injured seven firefighters.

"Preliminary findings indicate the fire started in a vacuum cleaner used to clean work sites at end of shift, and stored in an unoccupied space," the shipyard's public affairs office said in a release. Specific details are still being evaluated.

Initial conclusions reached through a formal Naval safety investigation could be released in the next two weeks.

The Miami's nuclear propulsion plant was not operating at the time and had been shut for over two months. The nuclear areas were isolated from the fire early.

No torpedoes or other weapons were on board the submarine, which was at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, three months into a planned 20 months of maintenance.

The Miami is worth an estimated $900 million. The Navy estimates the repair cost at $400 million, plus another 10 percent for secondary effects such as disruption to other planned work at naval shipyards and the potential need to contract work to the private sector.

Workers at the Portsmouth shipyard returned to work in the forward compartment last week to start cleaning up and helping with damage assessment. The Navy is seeking bids on other cleaning contracts.