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Clarksville Modification Center

Created by the AEC in 1958, the modification center was located on the Ft. Campbell Military Reservation in Clarksville, Tennessee.1.1

Primarily concentrated on the dismantlement of retired weapons.2.1

On October 19th, 1961, a Jupiter missile armed with a Mk49 was struck by lightning, resulting in deuterium-tritium boosting gas being injected into the warhead pit and activation of thermal batteries in the adaptation kit. The missile was returned to operational status after 76 days. On November 4th, 1961 the warhead was flown back to the Clarksville Modification Center for post-mortem examination3.1

Project TRUELOVE5.1 – a second-generation, freestanding, reinforced concrete “A” structure above ground in early 1954. These “A” structures were typically numbered, unlike the “A” structures of 1950-1953, a factor in the confusion over their formal names. At Clarksville Base, for example, two “A” structures of 1954 are formally called “Structure A-1” and “Structure A-2”4.1

References

  1. U.S. Department of Energy & Office of Environmental Management. (1997). Linking Legacies: Connecting the Cold War Nuclear Weapons Production Processes to Their Environmental Consequences. U.S. Department of Energy. https://www.osti.gov/opennet/servlets/purl/16115767.pdf
    1. p.210 (PDF Page)
  2. Goetz, P. (2018). A Technical History of America’s Nuclear Arms: Volume I – Introduction and Weapon Systems Through 1960 (Vol. 1). https://books.google.it/books/about/A_Technical_History_of_America_s_Nuclear.html?id=cBcVuwEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
    1. p.95 (PDF Page)
  3. Hansen, C. (1995). Swords of Armageddon: The Development of U.S. Nuclear Weapons—Arming, Fuzing, Safing, and Appendices (2nd Edition, Vol. 7). Chukelea Publications. http://uscoldwar.com/
    1. p.278 (PDF Page)
  4. Stallings, P., & Salo, E. G. (2010). Clarksville Base Historic District; Historic Context. Black & Veatch, Inc. https://home.army.mil/campbell/application/files/1115/5665/9597/Historic_Context_for_Clarksville_Base_2010.pdf
    1. p.28 (PDF Page)
  5. Defense Atomic Support Agency. (n.d.). History of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project; Latter Period, 1955-1958: Index (DNA1.940920.102; History of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, p. 216). https://www.osti.gov/opennet/servlets/purl/16004113.pdf
    1. p.12 (PDF Page)