Nudets: Cocking the Trigger on Nuclear War

by Richard Greeley

"NUDETS - Cocking the Trigger on Nuclear War" describes the concept behind the "Nuclear Detection and Reporting System" which President Kennedy and Secretary of Defense McNamara wanted to be installed to give very prompt notice that a Soviet nuclear bomb had detonated within the continental U. S. The specific location, explosive yield and height of burst were to be automatically reported to the National Command Authorities (the President, Pentagon, North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) and the Strategic Air Command (SAC). The decision to retaliate against the Soviets could then be made based on accurate and timely information. The book provides details about the design of NUDETS and its testing on Palmyra Island during the U. S. atmospheric nuclear tests above the Pacific Ocean off Christmas and Johnston Islands in 1962. The author describes in graphic detail one of the nuclear weapon bursts (Shot "Alma" - 782 kilotons) that he witnessed from a distance of 35 miles on Christmas Island. Thirty-six nuclear tests were conducted, most of which were detected by the NUDETS "brass-board" equipment. However, it was learned that lightning would be a problem by possibly triggering the system to report a false alarm. Indeed, once the prototype of the actual system was installed in the Washington D. C. area, three false alarms during the first week of operation caused the system to be scrapped in favor of a satellite-based system. The book continues by discussing the Cuban Missile crisis, which luckily occurred before NUDETS became operational, and the various attempts to develop an attack assessment capability based on other approaches. The book warns about the present day threat from terrorist groups who might attempt to set off a nuclear bomb within the U. S. The book concludes with a hypothetical scenario concerning the difficulty and time delays in responding to an alarm that a nuclear burst has, or has not, occurred. Richard S. Greeley, Ph. D. was employed at the MITRE Corporation, a not-for-profit federally funded, research and development corporation that works only for government agencies. He assisted in the preparation of the request for proposals for the prototype NUDETS, developed the specifications of the brass-board equipment, was project manager of the tests on Palmyra Island, and worked on the overall concepts for assessing the impacts of a Soviet nuclear attack on the U. S. He has a B. S. from Harvard University, an M. S. from Northwestern University, both in chemistry, and obtained his Ph. D. in physical chemistry with a minor in nuclear engineering while employed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. He currently is working on non-polluting tidal and other flow-through turbine alternative electric energy systems.

112 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000