Why was news of the crash of an American B-52 bomber near Thule, Greenland, early in 1968, kept secret for several days?

Senior Moments

Probably so as not to cause panic. On January 21st 1968 an American B-52 bomber carrying four one Megaton nuclear weapons crashed on to the sea ice about 15 km from the Thule Air Base and about 11 km from the coast at Thule in north-western Greenland. On impact with the ice the conventional explosives in the bombs were detonated thus spreading the content of mainly plutonium-239 out over the so-called fire spot (about 750 x 150 m in size) where the bomber's fuel was burning. The fire spot contained about 3 kg of plutonium, the so-called "black snow". An unknown amount adhered to the many thousand pieces of wreckage. A similarly unknown amount was carried out to sea with the smoke that reached a height of many hundreds of metres. About half a kg of Pu-239 was found scattered in small particles on the seabed. This plutonium was the insoluble oxide form. During the time that has passed since the accident, melting icebergs have deposited an increasing layer of gravel over the deposit. A Danish scientific expedition found no risk of contamination outside the fire spot, which was rapidly sealed off and later removed. Jan 30 04, 2:10 AM

shady shaker

The primary reason according to a source which I can provide if needed, was that the major concern for the Americans was Denmark's reaction. The Danes had allowed the use of Thule as an American base, but were apparently unaware that nuclear weapons were involved. YAY!! SM for your customarily informative answer. Jan 30 04, 2:21 AM

Create a Free FunTrivia ID to add to, request more/new answers, or edit this entry

What name was applied to the Boeing B-29 bomber? Why is Greenland so called? What was the reason for giving people's names as initials in the early days of printing/newspapers? For instance, Benjamin Franklin would be B____ F_____. What was the name of the B-29 bomber that dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima?

1 The B-17 Bomber See how much you know about the famous B-17 bomber. WW2 Aircraft Average 10 Q uphill50 Sep 13 02 4011 plays 2 Uruguay, South America's best kept secret I had the pleasure of living in Uruguay for several years. Before moving there, I knew nothing about it and was amazed that such a wonderful place was relatively unknown. Uruguay Average 10 Q mirgang Mar 05 09 264 plays 3 Early Days of the Dragons "No matter where you be, the red and white you'll see", just a line from an old Dragon's song! Anyway, answer the following ten questions to see how much you know about the mighty St George Dragons! St. George-Illawarra Difficult 10 Q Engadine Oct 06 02 201 plays