B-52 mistakenly carried nuclear warheads from N.D. to Louisiana
They were cruise missiles, heading for the breakers - but apparently nobody removed the warheads from them. (For what it's worth, the warhead is embedded in the cruise missile, and not right at the front - which is where the radar system is. Hey, it's five feet back from the front, travelling at 600+ MPH. If it goes off, you won't notice any real delay at all..)
Very sloppy work. If I were in that Wing, especially if I handled munitions, ESPECIALLY if I handled nukes, I'd be sweating like anything right now. You don't just misplace 5 warheads, unless the culture in that shop is exceedingly lax and careless. And where something big like this happens, there's a lot of smaller indicators leading up to it. Someone's head is going to roll for this.
But there's no possibility of the warheads being dropped and going off. Breaking apart is a possibility, but then you've got stuff scattered about that's easier to clean up than a lot of chemical spills. You might even have a low-order explosion, but you won't get a nuclear yeild. Nukes are hard enough to get to blow properly when EVERYTHING goes right - if the Permissive Action Link hasn't been properly set, it ain't gonna go off in an earth-shattering Ka-Boom.
But I'll bet ya that the folks in the shop that pulled those cruise missiles out of the secure area and passed them over without checking to see if the nukes were still installed are looking at the end of their careers. All the services take nuclear safety VERY seriously, and a careless screw-up like this is a career killer.
And it SHOULD be.
J.