US stacks nukes to combat asteroid threats

September of 2013 saw the United States and Russia join to discuss and agree upon how nuclear weapons might be used to defend and save the planet from any potential asteroid that wanders too close to our planet. Following that meeting, the US is now storing away some of its warheads for use in case the asteroid scenario becomes a reality. Even though a huge asteroid crashing into earth and killing all life is highly unlikely, the scenario has long been debated by agencies such as NASA and the UN. One increasingly popular solution for this scenario would be to use nuclear weapons in order to modify the asteroid’s orbit and thus save the planet.

As the ‘Wall Street Journal’ points out, a 67-page report released by the Government Accountability Office on the National Nuclear Security Administration says that the US decided to keep some of its nuclear warheads that were initially scheduled to be destroyed in order to be capable of defending Earth in case of an asteroid threat. The report clearly states that the nuclear weapons: ‘are being retained in an indeterminate state pending a senior-level government evaluation of their use in planetary defense against earthbound asteroids.’ Those weapons were set to be destroyed following an international disarmament agreement that was supposed to reduce the number of nuclear warheads worldwide.

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The earthbound asteroid scenario has been taken more seriously following the events of last year when, in February, a huge meteor exploded above Russia and ended injuring hundreds with its debris and causing serious property damage. Following this episode, NASA published a report stating that there are about 1,400 asteroids threatening Earth, each with a potential of making significant damage. However, NASA also stated that the possibility of one of those asteroids crashing into our planet is highly improbable for the following 100 years. However, the US piling up nuclear weapons seems to say that it’s always good to be prepared beforehand.