by Gretchen Spiess, Stevensville
I was 6 years old when I witnessed an above ground atomic bomb blast at the Nevada Test Site. My father was an electrical engineer with the Atomic Energy Commission, the branch of the government in charge of our nuclear program. I clearly remember the flash was so bright I could see the bones in my hands and the silhouettes of the sagebrush through my closed eyelids with my hands covering my eyes and my back to the blast. When we could turn around, we watched as the mushroom cloud arose from the desert floor to rise higher than the mountain top we were standing on. Then there was the blast of hot wind that almost blew us over. The memory of that experience is never far from my mind, especially now that a mad man is threatening the world with its use.
A few facts you might not know:
1945 “Little Boy”, the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, was 15 kilotons and “Fat Man”, dropped on Nagasaki, was 21 kilotons.
1954 “Castle Bravo”, our most powerful bomb at the time, was 15 megatons (15,000 kilotons) and blew the Bikini Islands of the face of the earth.
In comparison, 1961 Russia detonated the largest nuclear weapon ever, “Tsar Bomba”, which was 50 megaton (50,000 kilotons). The warheads we have now are smaller but much more destructive and none can be tested. The old Titan Missiles with 10 to 12 warheads on them needed the power of a Fat Man or Little Boy just to ignite the missile. If Putin launches one nuclear weapon at Ukraine it most likely will take out most of Europe and a large part of Asia.
I am asking everyone to call or write the President, Senators, and Representatives and demand that they do everything in their power to keep Putin’s finger off the button.
There can never be a Nuclear War, only Nuclear Annihilation.