with the number of nuclear weapons in the world now, and how old a lot are, how is it possible we’ve never accidentally set one off?

Question

Title says it. Really curious how we’ve escaped this kind of occurrence anywhere in the world, for the last ~70 years.

In: Engineering

Answer 1

A damaged bomb becomes more dangerous because it is full of carefully contained explosive chemicals that are just begging to detonate when the right bump comes along.

A damaged nuclear weapon becomes a very expensive and possibly radioactive paperweight. Unlike a traditional explosive, the device inside requires a very specific and detailed arming and detonation sequence that must maintain a very tight timing window and configuration to make the nuclear material go critical in exactly the right time at the right shape.

They will not go off by accident. You’d need a dozen very peculiar *accidents* in a row to make that happen.