link to Home Page

icon Nuclear Warheads


Excerpts from the Associated Press article titled Nuclear Arsenal Stored in 15 States, August 27, 1997

Half of all US nuclear warheads are in just three states - New Mexico, Georgia, and Washington - according to a report by private nuclear arms specialists that says the nuclear arsenal is spread among 15 states in all. ... Details about locations of nuclear weapons are an official government secret, but Stan Norris and William Arkin said they did their own accounting from public records, including information associated with security at nuclear storage sites. Norris and Arkin compiled the information for a coming report, to be published by the private Natural Resources Defense Council, on the location of nuclear weapons not only in the United States but in Russia, Britain, France, and China.

The authors said there are about 2,850 nuclear weapons in New Mexico - virtually all reserves or retired and awaiting dismantlement - and 2,000 in Georgia. The King's Bay naval base in Georgia is home to 10 Trident nuclear submarines armed with Trident I and the more advanced Trident II missiles. Washington state, which ranks third with a total of 1,600 nuclear warheads, is home to eight Trident submarines at Bangor. Approximately half the weapons assigned to Bangor and King's Bay are aboard subs at any given time.

New Mexico2,850Texas520
Georgia2,000Louisianna455
Washington1,600Montana455
Nevada1,450Nebraska255
North Dakota965Virginia175
Wyoming592California175
Missouri550South Dakota138
Colorado138

icon