April 18, 2004

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  The mine would be kept warm by chickens

  
  

   

  
  

  Cold war bomb warmed by chickens
  

  
  

  Plans to fill a nuclear landmine with chickens to regulate its temperature were seriously considered during the Cold War.

  
  

  The Army planned to detonate the seven-tonne device on the German plains in the event of having to retreat.
  

  But nuclear physicists at the Aldermaston nuclear research station in Berkshire were worried about how to keep the landmine at the correct temperature when buried underground.
  

  In a 1957 document they proposed live chickens would generate enough heat to ensure the bomb worked when buried for a week.
  

  The birds would be put inside the casing of the bomb, given seed to keep them alive and stopped from pecking at the wiring.

  
  

   

  • 11:56 am
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