1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash

1968 aviation accident August 2026 October 2019 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash Boeing B-52G in flight 061026-F-1234S-021.jpg 1.15 A B-52G, similar to the one that crashed at Thule Air Base 21 January 1968 In-flight fire leading to crew ejecting Accident 7.5 mi km west of Thule Air Base (formerly Pituffik), Greenland 76 31 40 N 69 16 55 W inline,title scale:50000_region:GL_type:eventProject Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 9 5 B-52G Stratofortress 380th Strategic Bomb Wing, Strategic Air Command, United States Air Force 58-0188 Plattsburgh Air Force Base Baffin Bay (holding pattern) Plattsburgh Air Force BaseProject Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 1 7 1 0 6 On 21 January 1968, an aircraft accident, sometimes known as the Thule affair or Thule accident (ˈ t uː l i; da Thuleulykken), involving a United States Air Force (USAF) B-52 bomber occurred near Thule Air Base in the Danish territory of Greenland. The aircraft was carrying four B28FI thermonuclear bombs on a Cold War "Chrome Dome" alert mission over Baffin Bay when a cabin fire forced the crew to abandon the aircraft before they could carry out an emergency landing at Thule Air Base. Six crew members ejected safely, but one who did not have an ejection seat was killed while trying to bail out. The bomber crashed onto sea ice in North Star Bay,Also known as Bylot Sound. Greenland, causing the conventional explosives aboard to detonate and the nuclear payload to rupture and disperse, resulting in radioactive contamination of the area. The United States and Denmark launched an intensive clean-up and recovery operation, but the secondary stage of one of the nuclear weapons could not be accounted for after the operation was completed. USAF Strategic Air Command "Chrome Dome" operations were discontinued immediately after the accident, which highlighted the safety and political risks of the missions. Safety procedures were reviewed, and more stable explosives were developed for use in nuclear weapons. In 1995, a political scandal arose in Denmark after a report revealed the government had given tacit permission for nuclear weapons to be located in Greenland, in contravention of Denmark's 1957 nuclear-free zone policy. Workers involved in the clean-up program campaigned for compensation for radiation-related illnesses they experienced in the years after the accident. __TOC__ Thule Monitor Mission thumb|BMEWS antennas at Thule, with a modern Satellite Control Network radome on the right, 1984|alt=A series of four metal structures silhouetted on the horizon, with a golf ball looking dome to the left In 1960, the United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air Command (SAC) began Operation Chrome Dome, a Cold War airborne alert program devised by General Thomas S. Power to fly nuclear-armed Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers to the borders of the Soviet Union. The flights were scheduled to ensure that twelve bombers were aloft at all times.Time 1961 – Deadly Daily DozenCroddy Wirtz 2005 3 These bombers gave SAC offensive capability in the event of a Soviet first strike.Clarke 2006 70–73Croddy Wirtz 2005 3 Beginning in 1961, B-52 bombers also secretly flew as part of the "Hard Head" mission (or "Thule Monitor Missions") over Thule Air Base. The objective of "Hard Head" was to maintain constant visual surveillance of the base's strategically important Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS), which provided early warning of Soviet missile launches.Project Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 5 This ensured that, if the communication link between North American Aerospace Defense Command and the base was severed, then the aircraft crew could determine if the interruption resulted from an actual attack or a mere technical failure.Croddy Wirtz 2005 3Sagan 1995 170–176Satellite verification and monitoring were not possible at the time. The monitoring mission started when the designated aircraft reached a waypoint at 75 0 N 67 30 W type:landmark inline in Baffin Bay and entered a figure-eight holding pattern above the air base at an altitude of 35000 ft m.Project Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 5 Greenland 180 right Greenland 1 Map of Greenland showing the location of Thule on its northwestern shore Greenland W N 76 31 69 13 Thule Air Base right Greenland W N 73 24 68 8 Baffin Bay right In 1966, United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara proposed cutting "Chrome Dome" flights because the BMEWS system was fully operational, the bombers had been made redundant by missiles, and $123 million ($US 123000000 1966 -4 0 as of US) could be saved annually. SAC and the Joint Chiefs of Staff opposed the plan, so a compromise was reached whereby a smaller force of four bombers would be on alert each day. Despite the reduced program and the risks highlighted by the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash, SAC continued to dedicate one of the aircraft to monitoring Thule Air Base. This assignment was without the knowledge of civilian authorities in the United States, who SAC determined did not have the "need to know" about specific operational points.Sagan 1995 178–180 Broken Arrow On 21 January 1968, a B-52G Stratofortress, serial number 58-0188, with the callsign "HOBO 28"Project Crested Ice 1970: Danish Atomic Energy Commission 2 from the 380th Strategic Bomb Wing at Plattsburgh Air Force Base, New York was assigned the "Hard Head" mission over Thule and nearby Baffin Bay.B-52 Crash at Thule Air Base 1968 – USAEC 38 The bomber crew consisted of five regular crew members, including Captain John Haug, the aircraft commander; Radar navigator Major Frank Hopkins; and Electronic warfare officer Captain Richard Marx. Also aboard were the co-pilot, Leonard Svitenko, a substitute navigator (Captain Curtis R. CrissDresser 1970 25–26) and a mandatory third pilot (Major Alfred D'Amario). USAF Accident/Incident Report 21 January 1968 United States Air Force Before take-off, D'Amario placed three cloth-covered foam cushions on top of a heating vent under the instructor navigator's seat in the aft section of the lower deck. Shortly after take-off, another cushion was placed under the seat. The flight was uneventful until the scheduled mid-air refueling from a KC-135 Stratotanker, which had to be conducted manually because of an error with the B-52G's autopilot. About one hour after refueling, while the aircraft was circling above its designated area, Captain Haug directed co-pilot Leonard Svitenko to take his rest period. His seat was taken by the spare pilot, D'Amario. The crew was uncomfortable because of the cold, although the heater's rheostat was turned up, so D'Amario opened an engine bleed valve to draw additional hot air into the heater from the engine manifold.Project Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 5 Because of a heater malfunction, the air barely cooled as it traveled from the engine manifold to the cabin's heating ducts. During the next half-hour, the cabin's temperature became uncomfortably hot,Eriksson 2002 11 and the stowed cushions ignited.Project Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 3 After one crew member reported smelling burning rubber, they looked for a fire. The navigator searched the lower compartment twice before discovering the fire behind a metal box.Project Crested Ice 1970: Danish Atomic Energy Commission 2 He attempted to fight it with two fire extinguishers, but could not put it out.Project Crested Ice 1970: Danish Atomic Energy Commission 2Project Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 7 thumb|Thule Air Base in the foreground with North Star Bay, which was covered in sea ice at the time of the accident, in the background|alt=Aerial photograph, land masses are covered in snow, but the bay is not frozen over At 15:22 EST, about six hours into the flight and 90 mi km south of Thule Air Base, Haug declared an emergency. He told Thule air traffic control that he had a fire on board and requested permission to perform an emergency landing at the air base.B-52 Crash at Thule Air Base 1968 – USAEC 7 Within five minutes, the aircraft's fire extinguishers were depleted, electrical power was lost and smoke filled the cockpit to the point that the pilots could not read their instruments.B-52 Crash at Thule Air Base 1968 – USAEC 38AEC Observers' Interim Report of Thule Accident, 1968 As the situation worsened, the captain realized he would not be able to land the aircraft and told the crew to prepare to abandon it. They awaited word from D'Amario that they were over land, and when he confirmed that the aircraft was directly over the lights of Thule Air Base, the four crewmen ejected, followed shortly thereafter by Haug and D'Amario. The co-pilot, Leonard Svitenko, who had given up his ejection seat when the spare pilot took over from him, sustained fatal head injuries when he attempted to bail out through one of the lower hatches.Project Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 7Project Crested Ice 1970: Danish Atomic Energy Commission 4The Flight of HOBO 28 2–3 The pilotless aircraft initially continued north, then turned left through 180° and crashed onto sea ice in North Star Bay at a relatively shallow angle of 20 degrees—about 7.5 mi km west of Thule Air Base—at 15:39 EST.Some sources say Wolstenholme Fjord is a more accurate name for the area, as the crash site was outside a line between the two capes at the extremities of North Star Bay.Project Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 7 The conventional high explosive (HE) components of four 1.1 megatonTaagholt Hansen 2001 42 B28FI thermonuclear bombs detonated on impact, spreading radioactive material over a large area in a manner similar to a dirty bomb.Vantine Crites 2003 thumb|Inuit around the base worked with the U.S. Air Force to get to the B-52 crash. The sleds were the only way to get to the crash site|alt= Haug and D'Amario parachuted onto the grounds of the air base and made contact with the base commander within ten minutes of each other. They informed him that at least six crew ejected successfully and the aircraft was carrying four nuclear weapons.Dresser 1970 25–26 Off-duty staff were mustered to conduct search and rescue operations for the remaining crew members. Owing to the extreme weather conditions, Arctic darkness, and unnavigable ice, the base relied largely on the Thule representative of the Royal Greenland Trade Department, Ministry of Greenland, Jens Zinglersen, to raise and mount the search using native dog sled teams.Hunziker 13 Three of the survivors landed within 1.5 mi km of the base and were rescued within two hours.Project Crested Ice 1970: Danish Atomic Energy Commission 3–4Project Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 8 For his initial actions and later services, Zinglersen received the Air Force Exceptional Civilian Service Medal on 26 February 1968 at the hands of the U.S. Ambassador, K. E. White.Dresser 1970 25–26 Gunner Staff Sergeant Calvin Snapp, who was first to eject, landed 6 mi km from the base—he remained lost on an ice floe for 21 hours and suffered hypothermia in the -23 F C temperatures,Dresser 1970 25–26 but he survived by wrapping himself in his parachute.Dresser 1970 25–26Project Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 8 An aerial survey of the crash site immediately afterwards showed only six engines, a tire and small items of debris on the blackened surface of the ice.B-52 Crash at Thule Air Base 1968 – USAEC 2 The accident was designated a Broken Arrow, or an accident involving a nuclear weapon but which does not present a risk of war.Natonski 2007 1Project Crested Ice 1970: Danish Atomic Energy Commission 12 Project Crested Ice thumb|upright|Aerial photograph of blackened ice at the crash scene, with the point of impact at the top|alt=Aerial photograph of the crash site showing a long black mark that looks like an ink blot on white paper The resulting explosion and fire destroyed many of the components that had scattered widely in a 1 mi km on by 3 mi km on area.McElwee 1968 38 Parts of the bomb bay were found 2 mi km north of the impact area, indicating the aircraft started to break-up before impact.Project Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 4Christensen 2009 41 The ice was disrupted at the point of impact, temporarily exposing an area of seawater approximately 50 m ft flip in diameter; ice floes in the area were scattered, upturned and displaced.Fristrup 1970 86 South of the impact area, a 400 ft m on by 2200 ft m on blackened patch was visible where fuel from the aircraft had burned—this area was highly contaminated with JP-4 aviation fuel and radioactive elementsFristrup 1970 86 that included plutonium, uranium, americium and tritium.Eriksson 2002 28Dose Evaluation Report 2001 2National Board of Health 2011 16 Plutonium levels as high as 380 mg/m2 were registered in the area.Vantine Crites 2003 +Radioactive materials at the accident siteNational Board of Health 2011 16NuclideHalf-lifeType of radiationUranium-2384.5 billion yearsAlphaUranium-235700 million yearsAlphaUranium-234250,000 yearsAlphaPlutonium-23924,000 yearsAlphaAmericium-241430 yearsAlpha/GammaPlutonium-2406,600 yearsAlphaPlutonium-24114 yearsBetaTritium12 yearsBeta American and Danish officials immediately launched "Project Crested Ice" (informally known as "Dr. Freezelove""Dr. Freezelove" is an apparent play on words of the 1964 film "Dr. Strangelove".Hanhimäki Westad 2004 300–301), a clean-up operation to remove the debris and contain environmental damage.Schwartz 1998 410 Despite the cold, dark Arctic winter, there was considerable pressure to complete the clean-up operation before the sea ice melted in the spring and deposited further contaminants into the sea.Project Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 50 thumb|Camp Hunziker was set up at the accident site Weather conditions at the site were extreme; the average temperature was -40 C F 0 flip, at times dropping to -60 C F 0 flip. These temperatures were accompanied by winds of up to 40 m/s mph us flip. Equipment suffered high failure-rates and batteries worked for shorter periods in the cold; operators modified their scientific instruments to allow the battery packs to be carried under their coats to extend the batteries' lifespan.McElwee 1968 6 The operation was conducted in arctic darkness until 14 February, when sunlight gradually began appearing.Schwartz 1998 410Project Crested Ice 1970: Danish Atomic Energy Commission 13 A base camp (named "Camp Hunziker"McElwee 1968 13,47 after Richard Overton Hunziker, the USAF general in charge of the operation) was created at the crash site; it included a heliport, igloos, generators and communications facilities. A "zero line" delineating the 1 mi km on by 3 mi km on area in which alpha particle contamination could be measured was established by 25 January, four days after the crash.Broken Arrow 1968 – Thule 5 The line was subsequently used to control decontamination of personnel and vehicles. An ice road was constructed to Thule from the site. This was followed by a second, more direct road so that the ice on the first road was not fatigued by overuse.Dresser 1970 26 The camp later included a large prefabricated building, two ski-mounted buildings, several huts, a decontamination trailer and a latrine.Broken Arrow 1968 – Thule 3 These facilities allowed for 24-hour operations at the crash site.Broken Arrow 1968 – Thule 3 thumb|Contaminated ice being loaded into steel tanks at Thule during Project Crested Ice|alt=A crane shown loading contaminated ice into a large steel tank. The USAF worked with Danish nuclear scientists to consider the clean-up options. The spilled fuel in the blackened area was heavily contaminated, raising concerns that when the ice melted in the summer, the radioactive fuel would float on the sea and subsequently contaminate the shore. The Danes thus insisted on the removal of the blackened area to avoid this possibility.Joint Committee on Atomic Energy 1968 23, 26 The Danes also requested that the nuclear material not be left in Greenland after the cleanup operation was complete, therefore requiring Hunziker to remove the contaminated ice and wreckage to the United States for disposal.Joint Committee on Atomic Energy 1968 20Fristrup 1970 90 USAF personnel used graders to collect the contaminated snow and ice, which was loaded into wooden boxes at the crash site. The boxes were moved to a holding area near Thule Air Base known as the "Tank Farm".Eriksson 2002 14 There, contaminated material was loaded into steel tanks prior to being loaded onto ships.Dresser 1970 28 Debris from the weapons was sent to the Pantex plant in Texas for evaluation, and the tanks were shipped to Savannah River in South Carolina.Project Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 60 According to Hunziker, 93 percent of the contaminated material was removed from the accident site.Joint Committee on Atomic Energy 1968 19, 29 In 1987–88 and again in 2000, reports surfaced in the Danish press that one of the bombs had not been recovered.Leyne 2000 SAC stated at the time of the accident that all four bombs were destroyed. In 2008, the BBC published an article that was based on its examination of partly declassified documents obtained some years earlier, via the United States Freedom of Information Act. The documents appeared to confirm that within weeks of the accident, investigators realized only three of the weapons could be accounted for.Corera 2008-11-10 – Mystery of lost bomb One of the declassified documents—dated to January 1968—details a blackened section of ice which had refrozen with shroud lines from a weapon parachute: "Speculate something melted through the ice such as burning primary or secondary".Corera 2008-11-10 – Mystery of lost bombThe "primary" and "secondary" refer to parts of the weapon. A July 1968 report states, "An analysis by the AEC of the recovered secondary components indicates recovery of 85 percent of the uranium and 94 percent, by weight, of three secondaries. No parts of the fourth secondary have been identified".USAF Nuclear Safety, p. 4 The BBC tracked down several officials involved in the accident's aftermath. One was William H. Chambers, a former nuclear-weapons designer at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Chambers headed a team dealing with nuclear accidents, including the Thule crash. He explained the logic behind the decision to abandon the search: "There was disappointment in what you might call a failure to return all of the components ... it would be very difficult for anyone else to recover classified pieces if we couldn't find them".Corera 2008-11-10 – Mystery of lost bomb thumb|Set of four B28FI thermonuclear bombs of the same type as those in the accident at Thule|alt=Four silver B28FI nuclear bombs in a rack ready for loading into an aircraft. In August 1968, the United States military sent a Star III mini-submarine to the base to look for weapon debris, especially the uranium-235 fissile core of a primary.Christensen 2009 96 A much bigger operation at Palomares off the coast of Spain two years earlier led to the recovery of a lost nuclear weapon from the Mediterranean Sea; the B28FI bomb was lost for 80 days after a mid-air collision between a B-52 on a "Chrome Dome" mission and its KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft.USAF Nuclear Safety, 1966 Christensen asserts that the purpose of the underwater search at Thule was obvious to the Danish authorities, contrary to other reports that suggested its true purpose had been hidden from them.Christensen 2009 71 At lower levels, however, the dives were surrounded by some confidentiality. One document from July 1968 reads, "Fact that this operation includes search for object or missing weapon part is to be treated as Confidential NOFORN",Corera 2008-11-10 – Mystery of lost bomb meaning it was not to be disclosed to non-US nationals. It continues, "For discussion with Danes, this operation should be referred to as a survey, repeat survey of bottom under impact point".Corera 2008-11-10 – Mystery of lost bomb Further indications of the search are apparent in a September 1968 interim report by the United States Atomic Energy Commission, which stated, "It was further speculated that the missing <redacted>, in view of its ballistic characteristics, may have come to rest beyond the observed concentration of heavy debris".Thule Status Report 1968 3 This discussion was a reference to the unsuccessful search for the uranium cylinder of one of the secondaries.Christensen 2009 94–95 The underwater search was beset by technical problems and eventually abandoned. Diagrams and notes included in the declassified documents make clear it was not possible to search the entire area where crash debris had spread. Four bomb reservoirs, one nearly intact secondary, and parts equaling two secondaries were recovered on the sea ice; parts equaling one secondary were not accounted for.USAF Nuclear Safety, 1968 The search also revealed a weapon cable fairing, polar cap, and a one-foot by three-foot section of a warhead's ballistic case.Thule Status Report 1968 2 The USAF monitored airborne contamination through nasal swabs of onsite personnel. Of the 9,837 nasal swabs taken, 335 samples had detectable levels of alpha particle activity, although none exceeded acceptable levels. Urinalysis was also performed but none of the 756 samples displayed any detectable level of plutonium.Dose Evaluation Report 2001 ES-1 thumb|Star III submersible used in the underwater search for missing bomb components|alt=Star III submersible on display outside Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The white vessel has the appearance of a short, fat cigar. By the time the operation concluded, 700 specialized personnel from both countries and more than 70 United States government agencies had worked for nine months to clean up the site,Hanhimäki Westad 2004 300–301 often without adequate protective clothing or decontamination measures. In total, more than 550000 USgal m3 of contaminated liquid—along with thirty tanks of miscellaneous material, some of it contaminated—were collected at the Tank Farm.Thule Status Report 1968 3–4 Project Crested Ice ended on 13 September 1968 when the last tank was loaded onto a ship bound for the United States.Eriksson 2002 14 The operation is estimated to have cost $9.4 million ($US 9400000 1968 -4 0 as of US).Schwartz 1998 410 Aftermath Operation Chrome Dome The accident caused controversy at the time and in the years since. It highlighted the risks Thule Air Base posed to Greenlanders from nuclear accidents and potential superpower conflicts.Heurlin Rynning 2005 184–188 The accident, which occurred two years after the Palomares crash, signaled the immediate end of the airborne alert program, which had become untenable because of the political and operational risks involved.Lake Styling 2004 19 Scott Sagan, a political science academic and anti-nuclear writer, postulated that if the HOBO 28 monitoring aircraft had crashed into the BMEWS early warning array instead of Baffin Bay, it would have presented NORAD with a scenario (radio link to "Hard Head" aircraft and BMEWS both dead, no nuclear detonation detected) that also matched that of a surprise conventional missile attack on Thule, leaving the unreliable submarine telecommunications cable between Thule and the US mainland as the only source of information to the contrary.Edwards Wajcman 2005 163Sagan 1995 181–182 A satellite communications link was set up in 1974. Allen D. R. October 2006 Thule Tracking Station: 40th Anniversary October 1961–2001 United States Air Force 1978coss.conf..608A 608 In: Communications Satellite Systems Conference According to Greenpeace, the United States and USSR were concerned enough by accidents such as the 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash, the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash and the Thule accident that they agreed to take measures to ensure that a future nuclear accident would not lead the other party to conclude incorrectly that a first-strike was under way.May 1989 205 Consequently, on 30 September 1971, the two superpowers signed the "Agreement on Measures to Reduce the Risk of Nuclear War". Each party agreed to notify the other immediately in the event of an accidental, unauthorized or unexplained incident involving a nuclear weapon that could increase the risk of nuclear war.Goldblat 2002 301–302 They agreed to use the Moscow–Washington hotline, which was upgraded at the same time, for any communications.Blacker Duffy 1984Mayall Navari 1980 135–137 By April 1964, on-alert bomber missions were in decline as American strategy favored unmanned delivery via ICBMs.Pomeroy 2006 123 Weapon safety Following the Palomares and Thule accidents, investigators concluded the high explosive (HE) used in nuclear weapons was not chemically stable enough to withstand the forces involved in an aircraft accident. They also determined that the electrical circuits of the weapons' safety devices became unreliable in a fire and allowed connections to short circuit. The findings triggered research by scientists in the United States into safer conventional explosives and fireproof casings for nuclear weapons.Zukas Walters 2002 305–307 The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory developed the "Susan Test", which uses a special projectile whose design simulates an aircraft accident by squeezing and nipping explosive material between its metal surfaces.Zukas Walters 2002 305–307 The test projectile is fired under controlled conditions at a hard surface to measure the reactions and thresholds of different explosives to an impact. By 1979, the Los Alamos National Laboratory developed a new, safer type of explosive, called insensitive high explosive (IHE), for use in U.S. nuclear weapons;Plummer Greenwood 1998 1Busch 2004 50–51 the physicist and nuclear weapons designer Ray Kidder speculated that the weapons in the Palomares and Thule accidents would probably not have detonated had IHE been available at the time.Kidder 1991 32 Thulegate "Thulegate" political scandal Denmark's nuclear-free zone policy originated in 1957, when the coalition government decided in the lead-up to the Paris NATO summit not to stockpile nuclear weapons on its soil in peacetime.Ørvik 1986 205Agger Wolsgård The presence of the bomber in Greenland airspace in 1968 therefore triggered public suspicions and accusations that the policy was being violated.Kristensen 2004Jones 1986 176Kristensen 1999 The nature of the "Hard Head" missions was suppressed at the time of the accident;US State Department (via Nautilus.org), 1968 the Danish and American governments instead claimed the bomber was not on a routine mission over Greenland and that it diverted there because of a one-off emergency.Kristensen 1999Taagholt Hansen 2001 42–43 United States documents declassified in the 1990s contradicted the Danish government's position,Project Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 5–6B-52 Crash 1968 – NMCC 3 and therefore resulted in a 1995 political scandal that the press dubbed "Thulegate".Kristensen 1999 The Danish parliament commissioned a report from the Danish Institute of International Affairs (DUPI)Dansk Udenrigspolitisk Institut. to determine the history of United States nuclear overflights of Greenland and the role of Thule Air Base in this regard. When the two-volume work was published on 17 January 1997DUPI 1997 it confirmed that the nuclear-armed flights over Greenland were recurrent, but that the United States had acted in good faith. The report blamed Danish Prime Minister H. C. Hansen for intentionally introducing ambiguity in the Danish–U.S. security agreement: he was not asked about, nor did he mention, the official Danish nuclear policy when meeting with the United States ambassador in 1957 to discuss Thule Air Base. Hansen followed up the discussion with an infamous letter pointing out that the issue of "supplies of munition of a special kind" was not raised during the discussion, but that he had nothing further to add.Hansen 1957 In doing so, the report concluded, he tacitly gave the United States the go-ahead to store nuclear weapons at Thule.Brooke 2000 The report also confirmed that the United States stockpiled nuclear weapons in Greenland until 1965, contradicting assurances by Danish foreign minister Niels Helveg Petersen that the weapons were in Greenland's airspace, but never on the ground.Kristensen 1999Brooke 2000 The DUPI report also revealed details of Project Iceworm, a hitherto secret United States Army plan to store up to 600 nuclear missiles under the Greenland ice cap.Taagholt Hansen 2001 40 Workers' compensation claims thumb|upright|A monitor checks a pump operator for radioactive contamination|alt=Steel tanks with "Crested Ice" painted on them are visible in the background Danish workers involved in the clean-up operation claimed long-term health problems resulted from their exposure to the radiation. Although they did not work at Camp Hunziker, the Danes worked at the Tank Farm where the contaminated ice was collected, in the port from which the contaminated debris was shipped, and also serviced the vehicles used in the clean-up. It is also possible that they were exposed to radiation in the local atmosphere.Juel Engholm Storm 2005 5 Many of the workers surveyed in the years following Project Crested Ice reported health problems. A 1995 survey found 410 deaths by cancers out of a sample of 1,500 workers.Juel Engholm Storm 2005 15 In 1986, Danish Prime Minister Poul Schlüter commissioned a radiological examination of the surviving workers. The Danish Institute for Clinical Epidemiology concluded 11 months later that cancer incidents were 40 percent higher in Project Crested Ice workers than in workers who had visited the base before and after the operation. The Institute of Cancer Epidemiology found a 50 percent higher cancer rate in the workers than in the general population, but could not conclude that radiation exposure was to blame.Schwartz 1998 411 In 1987, almost 200 former cleanup workers took legal action against the United States. The action was unsuccessful, but resulted in the release of hundreds of classified documents. The documents revealed that USAF personnel involved in the clean-up were not subsequently monitored for health problems, despite the likelihood of greater exposure to radiation than the Danes.Schwartz 1998 411 The United States has since instigated regular examinations of its workers.Mulvey 2007 In 1995, the Danish government paid 1,700 workers compensation of 50,000 kroner each.Juel Engholm Storm 2005 11 Danish workers' health has not been regularly monitored, despite a European Court directive to the Danish government to begin examinations in the year 2000,Corera 2008-11-10 – Legacy of lost bomb and a May 2007 European Parliament resolution instructing the same.Mulvey 2007European Parliament, 2007 In 2008, the Association of Former Thule Workers took the case to the European courts. The petitioners claimed that Denmark's failure to comply with the rulings led to delays in detecting their illnesses, resulting in worsened prognoses. The country joined the European Atomic Energy Community in 1973, and is therefore not legally bound by the European treaty with respect to events in 1968: "When the accident occurred, Denmark was not a Member State and could not therefore be considered as being bound by the Community legislation applicable at that time. The obligations of Denmark towards the workers and the population likely to be affected by the accident could only flow from national legislation."European Parliament, 2004 The Danish government rejected a link between the accident and long-term health issues. Dr. Kaare Ulbak of the Danish National Institute of Radiation Protection said, "We have very good registers for cancer incidents and cancer mortality and we have made a very thorough investigation."Corera 2008-11-10 – Legacy of lost bomb The workers said the lack of proof was attributable to the lack of appropriate medical monitoring. As of November 2008, the case has been unsuccessful.Corera 2008-11-10 – Legacy of lost bomb A 2011 report by the Danish National Board of Health found that "the total radiation dose for representative persons in the Thule area for plutonium contamination resulting from the 1968 Thule accident is lower than the recommended reference level, even under extreme conditions and situations."National Board of Health 2011 41 Scientific studies Radioactive contamination occurred particularly in the marine environment. The fissile material in the weapons consisted mostly of uranium-235, while the radioactive debris consists of at least two different "source terms".The "source term" is the measure of radioactive contamination released during an accident. Scientific monitoring of the site has been carried out periodically, with expeditions in 1968, 1970, 1974, 1979, 1984, 1991, 1997 and 2003.Eriksson 2002 15Nielsen Roos 2006 5 A 1997 international expedition of mainly Danish and Finnish scientists carried out a comprehensive sediment sampling program in North Star Bay.Eriksson 2002 13 The main conclusions were: plutonium has not moved from the contaminated sediments into the surface water in the shelf sea; the debris has been buried to a great depth in the sediment as a result of biological activity; transfer of plutonium to benthic biota is low. Other research indicates that uranium is leaching from the contaminated particles faster than plutonium and americium.Eriksson 2002 2 Research conducted in 2003 concluded, "Plutonium in the marine environment at Thule presents an insignificant risk to man. Most plutonium remains in the seabed under Bylot Sound far from man under relatively stable conditions and concentrations of plutonium in seawater and animals are low. However, the plutonium contamination of surface soil at Narsaarsuk could constitute a small risk to humans visiting the location if radioactive particles are resuspended in the air so that they might be inhaled".Nielsen Roos 2006 37Nielsen Roos Dahlgaard Olsen 2009 94 In 2003, 2007 and 2008, the first samples were taken on land by the Risø National Laboratory—the findings were published in 2011.Ritzau 2008-11-13Nielsen 2008Nielsen Roos 2011 Literature review of declassified documents A BBC News report in 2008 confirmed through declassified documents and interviews with those involved that a bomb had been lost.Gordon Corera Mystery of lost US nuclear bomb https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7720049.stm BBC News 10 November 2008US left nuclear weapon under ice in Greenland https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greenland/3439318/US-left-nuclear-weapon-under-ice-in-Greenland.html The Daily Telegraph 11 November 2008 The Danish foreign ministry reviewed the 348 documents that the BBC obtained in 2001 under the Freedom of Information Act. In January 2009, foreign minister Per Stig Møller commissioned a study by the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) to compare the 348 documents with 317 documents released by the Department of Energy in 1994 in order to determine if the 348 documents contained any new information about an intact nuclear weapon at Thule.Kromann 2009 In August 2009, DIIS published its report, which contradicted the assertions of the BBC.Christensen 2009 121–125 The report concluded that there was no missing bomb, and that the American underwater operation was a search for the uranium-235 of the fissile core of a secondary.Christensen 2009 121–125 For the first time, the report was able to present an estimate of the amount of plutonium contained in the pits of the primaries.Christensen 2009 54http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/article.php/id-24104886.html 31 July 2009 4 August 2009 Grønlandsk atombombe en skrøne Greenland Atomic Bomb a Hoax Ritzau via TV 2 (Denmark) da dead https://web.archive.org/web/20090807150859/http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/article.php/id-24104886.html 7 August 2009 See also List of military nuclear accidents The Idealist – 2015 Danish thriller/drama dealing with the health compensation claims Broken Arrow (1996 film) - 1996 American action-thriller film directed by John Woo featuring a fictional similar situation Notes 32em References 32em Bibliography Books 32em https://archive.org/details/internationalarm00blac registration 118 International arms control Blacker Coit D. Duffy Gloria Stanford University Press 1984 0-8047-1211-5 Stanford Arms Control Group https://books.google.com/books?id=3iOg-t-3q1sC No end in sight Busch Nathan E. University Press of Kentucky 2004 0-8131-2323-2 https://www.diis.dk/files/media/publications/2009/diis_rp_2009-18.pdf The Marshal's Baton. There is no bomb, there was no bomb, they were not looking for a bomb Christensen Svend Aage Danish Institute for International Studies – DIIS 2009 978-87-7605-331-4 17 June 2011 https://books.google.com/books?id=MYzNtetBpFwC Worst Cases Clarke Lee Ben University of Chicago Press 2006 0-226-10859-7 https://books.google.com/books?id=ZzlNgS70OHAC Weapons of Mass Destruction Croddy Eric Wirtz James J. ABC-CLIO 2005 1-85109-490-3 Greenland during the cold war : Danish and American Security policy 1945–1968 Myers Henry 17 January 1997 Danish Institute of International Affairs (DUPI) 87-601-6922-2 Copenhagen DUPI 1997 97161960 https://books.google.com/books?id=5Ehn6utOqLwC The politics of working life Edwards Paul Wajcman Judy Judy Wajcman Oxford University Press 2005 0-19-927190-9 https://archive.org/details/ProjectCrestedIce Ice Investigations Fristrup Børge University of Copenhagen 1970 87-550-0006-1 registration https://books.google.com/books?id=7Fpvdv4f2cUC Arms control Goldblat Jozef Sage 2002 0-7619-4016-2 International Peace Research Institute https://books.google.com/books?id=JSyv24u7iVEC The Cold War Hanhimäki Jussi M. Westad Odd Arne Oxford University Press 2004 0-19-927280-8 https://books.google.com/books?id=_R7Mvo4mGsoC Missile defence: international, regional and national implications Heurlin Bertel Rynning Sten Sten Rynning Routledge 2005 0-415-36120-6 https://books.google.com/books?id=UY4OAAAAQAAJ Denmark: A Modern History Jones W. Glyn Taylor & Francis 1986 0-7099-1468-7 https://books.google.com/books?id=U0zIt5KPEbQC B-52 Stratofortress Units in Combat 1955–73 Lake Jon Styling Mark Osprey Publishing 2004 1-84176-607-0 https://books.google.com/books?id=JQA9AAAAIAAJ The end of the post-war era Mayall James Navari Cornelia Cambridge University Press 1980 0-521-22698-8 Radioactive Particles in the Environment Nielsen Sven P. Roos Per Dahlgaard Henning Olsen Svend K. Jernström Jussi Eriksson Mats Thule Expedition 2003 – Studies on Radioactive Contamination and Particles Springer Publishing 2009 978-90-481-2947-8 NATO science for peace and security series 93–109 10.1007/978-90-481-2949-2_5 128642838 Oughton Deborah H. Deborah Oughton Kashparov Valery https://books.google.com/books?id=fJcOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA205 Semialignment and Western security Ørvik Nils Taylor & Francis 1986 0-7099-1951-4 Project Crested Ice: A joint Danish-American report on the crash near Thule Air Base on 21 January 1968 of a B-52 bomber carrying nuclear weapons February 1970 Danish Atomic Energy Commission 87-550-0006-1 65, pt 2 Project Crested Ice 1970: Danish Atomic Energy Commission USAF Nuclear Safety registration https://archive.org/details/ProjectCrestedIce https://books.google.com/books?id=4pV_wbOnphsC The Limits of Safety Sagan Scott Douglas Princeton University Press 1995 0-691-02101-5 Scott Sagan https://books.google.com/books?id=safduT80AHMC Atomic Audit Schwartz Stephen I. Brookings Institution Press 1998 0-8157-7774-4 https://books.google.com/books?id=l77rP6LA8TEC Explosive Effects and Applications Zukas Jonas A. Walters William P. Springer 2002 0-387-95558-5 Journals and reports 32em http://www.thulesagen.dk/thuledoc/0106883.pdf AEC Observers' Interim Report of Thule Accident 26 February 1968 United States Atomic Energy Commission https://web.archive.org/web/20081218233558/http://www.thulesagen.dk/thuledoc/0106883.pdf 12 November 2008 18 December 2008 Jul–Sep 1968 Broken Arrow – Thule http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/International_security_affairs/spain/133.pdf USAF Nuclear Safety Directorate of Nuclear Safety, United States Air Force 60 1 Broken Arrow 1968 – Thule 1 October 2013 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20111126220408/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/International_security_affairs/spain/133.pdf 26 November 2011 dmy-all Dresser Col D.S. January 1970 Host Base Support http://www.risoe.dk/rispubl/NUK/nukpdf/ris-r-213_p30-46.pdf USAF Nuclear Safety Thule Air Base 24 April 2009 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20070609220339/http://www.risoe.dk/rispubl/NUK/nukpdf/ris-r-213_p30-46.pdf 9 June 2007 PhD 87-550-3007-6 Eriksson Mats April 2002 On Weapons Plutonium in the Arctic Environment (Thule, Greenland) http://www.risoe.dk/rispubl/NUK/nukpdf/ris-r-1321.pdf Risø National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark Lund University Risø–R–1321(EN) 17 June 2011 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20090327090445/http://www.risoe.dk/rispubl/NUK/nukpdf/ris-r-1321.pdf 27 March 2009 Hunziker R.O. Jan–Mar 1970 The Commander's Point of View http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/701493.pdf USAF Nuclear Safety 65 2 12–24 Hunziker 3 November 2011January 2025 medicmedic http://www.si-folkesundhed.dk/upload/thule.pdf Register study of mortality and cancer incidence among Thule workers Juel Knud Engholm Gerda 2005 National Institute of Public Health & Cancer Society Denmark da Storm Hans 17 June 2011 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20110719131837/http://www.si-folkesundhed.dk/upload/thule.pdf 19 July 2011 Kidder Ray E. April 1991 Safety no Barrier to Test Ban https://books.google.com/books?id=cwwAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA32 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 47 3 32 10.1080/00963402.1991.11459959 1991BuAtS..47c..32K subscription Nielsen Sven P. Roos Per 2006 Thule-2003 – Investigation of Radioactive Contamination http://iis-03.risoe.dk/netacgi/nph-brs.exe?d=PUBL&s1=SPNI.meid.+and+(b.trc.+or+c.trc.+or+d.trc.)&pg1=ALL&co1=and&s2=&pg2=ALL&co2=and&s3=0&co3=and&s4=@SAAR%3E%3D1991&co4=and&s5=0&l=20&co5=and&s6=@SAAR%3E%3D1991%3C%3D2006&p=1&Sect1=PUBNEKS&Sect2=TXT&u=%2Fnetahtml%2Frisoe%2Fpubl_uk.htm&op1=AND&r=0&f=S https://web.archive.org/web/20110719130901/http://iis-03.risoe.dk/netacgi/nph-brs.exe?d=PUBL&s1=SPNI.meid.+and+%28b.trc.+or+c.trc.+or+d.trc.%29&pg1=ALL&co1=and&s2=&pg2=ALL&co2=and&s3=0&co3=and&s4=%40SAAR%3E%3D1991&co4=and&s5=0&l=20&co5=and&s6=%40SAAR%3E%3D1991%3C%3D2006&p=1&Sect1=PUBNEKS&Sect2=TXT&u=%2Fnetahtml%2Frisoe%2Fpubl_uk.htm&op1=AND&r=0&f=S dead 19 July 2011 Roskilde Radiation Research Department, Risø National Laboratory 87-550-3508-6 17 June 2011 http://www.thulesundhed.dk/Webnodes/download/268 Thule Field Report Nielsen Sven P. 17 November 2008 Risø National Laboratory CVR-nr. DK 30 06 09 46 17 June 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20090409071316/http://www.thulesundhed.dk/Webnodes/download/268 9 April 2009 http://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/id(c3b7244a-5c9d-49a1-84aa-4397903103ec).html Thule-2007 – Investigation of Radioactive Pollution on Land Nielsen Sven Poul Roos Per 10 October 2011 Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy Roskilde 978-87-550-3913-1 Risø-R-1781(EN) http://community.marines.mil/news/publications/Documents/MCO%203504.2.pdf Operations Event/Incident Report (OPREP-3) Reporting Natonski R. F. 8 June 2007 United States Navy MCO 3504.2 10 January 2013 17 May 1961 SAC's Deadly Daily Dozen http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,894429-2,00.html https://web.archive.org/web/20090618071250/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,894429-2,00.html dead 18 June 2009 Time 0040-781X Time 1961 – Deadly Daily Dozen 17 June 2011 http://www.thulesagen.dk/thuledoc/0107059.pdf Thule Status Report 10 September 1968 United States Atomic Energy Commission Thule Status Report 1968 https://web.archive.org/web/20081218233555/http://www.thulesagen.dk/thuledoc/0107059.pdf 18 November 2008 18 December 2008 http://www.sst.dk/publ/Publ2011/SIS/Thule/Thulerap_en.pdf The Thule Accident: Assessment of Radiation Doses from Terrestrial Radioactive Contamination 24 November 2011 National Board of Health Copenhagen 978-87-7104-229-0 National Board of Health 2011 12 January 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20130112105842/http://www.sst.dk/publ/Publ2011/SIS/Thule/Thulerap_en.pdf 12 January 2013 dead http://dlstg.dtic.mil/pubs/foi/operation_and_plans/NuclearChemicalBiologicalMatters/DocsConcerningThuleAccident.pdf Joint Committee on Atomic Energy 28 March 1968 United States Department of Defense Washington Joint Committee on Atomic Energy 1968 15 January 2013 January 2025 medicmedic Alt URL Jan–Mar 1970 The Flight of HOBO 28 http://www.risoe.dtu.dk/rispubl/NUK/nukpdf/ris-r-213_p1-29.pdf USAF Nuclear Safety Nebraska Danish Atomic Energy Commission 65 2 The Flight of HOBO 28 21 January 2013 Strategic Air Command dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120330162940/http://www.risoe.dtu.dk/rispubl/NUK/nukpdf/ris-r-213_p1-29.pdf 30 March 2012 Online sources 32em http://www.historisktidsskrift.dk/summary/101_109.html A Policy of the Utmost Flexibility: Danish Nuclear Weapons Policy 1956–1960 Agger Jonathan Søborg Wolsgård Lasse Danish Historical Association 10 May 2009 http://www.nukestrat.com/dk/State012368.PDF B-52 Crash 24 January 1968 National Military Command Center via nukestrat.com Pentagon B-52 Crash 1968 – NMCC 12 April 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20080907183721/http://www.nukestrat.com/dk/State012368.PDF 7 September 2008 http://www.thulesagen.dk/thuledoc/0075943.pdf B-52 Crash at Thule Air Base 22 January 1968 United States Atomic Energy Commission B-52 Crash at Thule Air Base 1968 – USAEC 13 November 2008 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20110725214623/http://www.thulesagen.dk/thuledoc/0075943.pdf 25 July 2011 http://cndyorks.gn.apc.org/yspace/articles/greenland3.htm Greenlanders Wary of a New Role in U.S. Defenses Brooke James 18 September 2000 The New York Times 11 November 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20090409005559/http://cndyorks.gn.apc.org/yspace/articles/greenland3.htm 9 April 2009 https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7720466.stm Radioactive legacy of 'lost bomb' Corera Gordon 10 November 2008 BBC News Corera 2008-11-10 – Legacy of lost bomb Gordon Corera 17 June 2011 https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7720049.stm Mystery of lost US nuclear bomb Corera Gordon 10 November 2008 BBC News Corera 2008-11-10 – Mystery of lost bomb Gordon Corera 17 June 2011 http://www.nautilus.org/archives/library/security/foia/DKhansen57.html Danish Prime Minister Gives Tacit Go-Ahead For U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Greenland Hansen H. C. H. C. Hansen 16 November 1957 The Nautilus Institute 20 March 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20071106145717/http://www.nautilus.org/archives/library/security/foia/DKhansen57.html 6 November 2007 http://www.nukestrat.com/dk/gr.htm Denmark's Thulegate Kristensen Hans M. 2004 Nuclear Information Project 21 April 2009 9 August 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200809080731/http://www.nukestrat.com/dk/gr.htm dead http://www.nautilus.org/archives/nukepolicy/Denmark/index.html Secrecy on a Sliding Scale: U.S. Nuclear Weapons Deployments And Danish Non-Nuclear Policy Kristensen Hans M. 20 October 1999 The Nautilus Institute 20 March 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20071231130921/http://www.nautilus.org/archives/nukepolicy/Denmark/index.html 31 December 2007 http://politiken.dk/politik/ECE624896/arktisk-atombombe-skal-undersoeges-igen/ Arctic atomic bomb should be examined again Kromann Hans Christian 7 January 2009 Politiken 17 June 2011 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20110607014752/http://politiken.dk/politik/ECE624896/arktisk-atombombe-skal-undersoeges-igen/ 7 June 2011 https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/878907.stm Nuclear bomb 'lost near Greenland' Leyne Jon 13 August 2000 BBC News 16 June 2011 http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/the-greenpeace-book-of-the-nuc.pdf The Greenpeace book of the nuclear age; The hidden history – the human cost May John 1989 Greenpeace Books 205 19 April 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20090410224652/http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/the-greenpeace-book-of-the-nuc.pdf 10 April 2009 live http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA283578&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf Project Crested Ice McElwee Captain Robert E. March 1968 United States Navy https://web.archive.org/web/20090618212435/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA283578&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf 18 June 2009 dead 14 November 2008 https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6647421.stm Denmark challenged over B52 crash Mulvey Stephen 11 May 2007 BBC News 16 June 2011 http://politiken.dk/indland/article597710.ece Risø examine radiation at the Thule base 13 November 2008 Ritzau da Ritzau 2008-11-13 17 June 2011 Petition 720/2002 by Jeffrey Carswell, Committee on Petitions, European Parliament, 2004 Petition 720/2002 by Jeffrey Carswell, Committee on Petitions, European Parliament, 2007 AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE joint propulsion conference, Cleveland, OH http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/671923-JYRvMV/webviewable/671923.pdf The History of Nuclear Weapon Safety Devices Plummer David W. Greenwood William H. June 1998 Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque Steven Pomeroy http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA452153&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf Echos That Never Were: American Mobile Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, 1956–1983 US Air Force 14 April 2006 23 October 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20120406205615/http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA452153&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf 6 April 2012 dead http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nukevault/ebb267/03.pdf Project Crested Ice: The Thule Accident 23 April 1969 History & Research Division, Strategic Air Command (via National Security Archive) Project Crested Ice 1969: The Thule Accident 17 June 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20090424235048/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nukevault/ebb267/03.pdf 24 April 2009 live http://www.arcus.org/publications/downloads/greenland.pdf Greenland: Security Perspectives Taagholt Jørgen Hansen Jens Claus 2001 Arctic Research Consortium of the United States Fairbanks, Alaska 35–43 Daniel Lufkin (translator) ARCUS https://web.archive.org/web/20101223005129/http://www.arcus.org/publications/downloads/greenland.pdf 23 December 2010 live http://airforcemedicine.afms.mil/latestnews/body.pdf Thule Nuclear Weapons Accident: Dose Evaluation Report April 2001 United States Air Force Medical Service Dose Evaluation Report 2001 https://web.archive.org/web/20120217071618/http://airforcemedicine.afms.mil/latestnews/body.pdf 17 February 2012 17 June 2011 https://eed.llnl.gov/ans/2002/vantine/vantine_ans_2002.pdf Relevance of Nuclear Weapons Clean-up Experience to Dirty Bomb Response Vantine Harry C. Crites Thomas R. 26 March 2003 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory https://web.archive.org/web/20090327090415/https://eed.llnl.gov/ans/2002/vantine/vantine_ans_2002.pdf 27 March 2009 Further reading Aarkrog Asker January 1970 Radio-Ecological Investigations http://www.risoe.dk/rispubl/NUK/nukpdf/ris-r-213_p79-88.pdf USAF Nuclear Safety Danish Atomic Energy Commission 17 June 2011 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20070609221011/http://www.risoe.dk/rispubl/NUK/nukpdf/ris-r-213_p79-88.pdf 9 June 2007 none Brink Poul 1997 Thule-Sagen, Løgnens Univers da Aschehoug 87-11-15045-9 https://books.google.com/books?id=VYI3AAAACAAJ none Jorgensen Timothy J. 17 January 2018 50 years ago, a US military jet crashed in Greenland – with 4 nuclear bombs on board The Conversation US, Inc. Boston, MA https://theconversation.com/50-years-ago-a-us-military-jet-crashed-in-greenland-with-4-nuclear-bombs-on-board-87155 24 January 2018 none Juel Knud 1992 The Thule Episode Epidemiological Followup After the Crash of a B-52 Bomber in Greenland: Registry Linkage, Mortality, Hospital Admissions Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health Copenhagen Danish Institute for Clinical Epidemiology 46 4 336–9 10.1136/jech.46.4.336 1059595 1431702 none http://www.nautilus.org/archives/library/security/foia/White012368.html Following Bomber Crash, U.S. Copenhagen Embassy Urges State Department To Lie About Flight Route Kristensen Hans M. 23 January 1968 US State Department via Nautilus.org 13 April 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20090618073758/http://www.nautilus.org/archives/library/security/foia/White012368.html 18 June 2009 dead none Oskins James C. Maggelet Michael H. 2008 Broken Arrow – The Declassified History of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Accidents Lulu 978-1-4357-0361-2 https://books.google.com/books?id=gi7HARO8vTcC 17 June 2011 none Sep–Oct 1966 Broken Arrow – Palomares, Spain http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/International_security_affairs/spain/133.pdf USAF Nuclear Safety Directorate of Nuclear Safety, United States Air Force 52 1 October 2013 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20111126220408/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/International_security_affairs/spain/133.pdf 26 November 2011 dmy-all none https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v12/ch1 Foreign Relations of the United States 1964–1968, Volume XII, Western Europe: Denmark United States Department of State 12 November 2008 none http://www.thulesundhed.dk/Webnodes/download/264 International Peer Review of the Technical Contentof the Project Proposal 'Thule 2007 – Investigation of Radioactive Contamination on Land' 3 March 2008 International Atomic Energy Commission Vienna 17 June 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110616104238/http://www.thulesundhed.dk/Webnodes/download/264 dead 16 June 2011 none March 2009 The Worst Nuclear Disasters http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1887705_1862266,00.html https://web.archive.org/web/20090330062255/http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1887705_1862266,00.html dead 30 March 2009 Time 0040-781X 17 June 2011 none External links 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash right 1968 photos of Thule Air Base and surrounds Underwater photos from the Star III submarine https://web.archive.org/web/20130615104529/http://www.diis.dk/sw82076.asp 15 June 2013 Documentation and photos da DoD Mishaps by the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute Declassified US government video of clean-up operation BBC National Institute for Radiation Protection (Denmark) da Category:1968 in Denmark Category:1960s in Danish politics Category:1960s in Greenland Category:1968 in North America Category:1968 in military history Category:1968 in the United States Category:1995 in Denmark Category:Aviation accidents and incidents involving the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress Category:Aviation accidents and incidents caused by in-flight fires Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1968 Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Greenland Category:Aviation accidents and incidents involving nuclear weapons Category:Cold War military history of the United States Category:Greenland–United States relations Category:Denmark–United States relations Category:Military in the Arctic Category:Political scandals in Denmark Category:United States military scandals Category:January 1968 in North America Category:Death in Greenland Category:Pituffik Space Base