Nuclear missiles could blow up 'like popcorn'

A design flaw in Britain's nuclear arsenal means that warheads could set off a chain reaction "like popcorn" if they were accidentally dropped, according to Ministry of Defence documents.

More than 1,700 warheads are affected by the problem which would cause them to explode one after another, an effect known as "popcorning."

A typical Trident nuclear missile contains three to six warheads, and some submarines carry up to 24 missiles, meaning the potential for disaster could be huge.

Defence companies try to prevent accidental explosions of warheads by designing them to be "singlepoint safe" which means that a sudden knock at a single point should not Defence documents.

More than 1,700 warheads are affected by the problem which would cause them to explode one after another, an effect known as "popcorning."

A typical Trident nuclear missile contains three to six warheads, and some submarines carry up to 24 missiles, meaning the potential for disaster could be huge.

Defence companies try to prevent accidental explosions of warheads by designing them to be "singlepoint safe" which means that a sudden knock at a single point should not detonate the plutonium core.

The typical scenario would see the weapon being dropped from a crane while being loaded on or off a submarine.

However, a nuclear-weapons safety manual drawn up by the MoD's internal nuclear-weapons regulator, and declassified last month, argues that this standard single-point design might not be enough to prevent "popcorning". Telegraph