5,113 atomic warheads currently scattered across America and on U.S. submarines around the world, according to Mother Jones magazine.
In 2009, President Barack Obama spoke of his hopes to rid the world of nuclear weapons – but clearly progress has been painfully slow since then.
The Cold War may have ended a generation ago, but a fascinating new map put together by Mother Jones magazine, shows exactly where highly radioactive nuclear material is situated on mainland America.
The map was produced from data suppled by the Defense Department and nuclear watchdog groups.
The map shows where the warheads are (in red), where the civilian nuclear power plants can be found (in green) and the location of labs and nuclear weapons plants (in blue).
The green arrows show nuclear.
According to The Lookout blog, watchdog groups believe the archaic system for making and storing weapons in the U.S. is both dangerous and expensive.
Mother Jones magazine notes that the country is telling the rest of the world that it is on the road to disarmament.
At the same time the U.S. is spending more on the nuclear weapons complex than we did during the Cold War.
Mother Jones magazine reports that the 5,113 figure does not include “zombie” nukes that are kept in reserve and more than 3,000 warheads awaiting dismantlement.
The map was produced completely with unclassified, public information. As Mother Jones magazine reports, even the military doesn’t hide where it keeps its missiles and bombers.
The sources for the map were the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and Federation of American Scientists, Office of the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matters, Nuclear Energy Institute.
