BOMARC Missile Accident Site
 1960 damage to Launcher Shelter 204
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21st century photos of shelter damage
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various facility photos
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Coordinates: 40°2′4.43″N 74°26′34.56″W / 40.0345639°N 74.4429333°W
The BOMARC Missile Accident Site ("BOMARC Site RW-01") is a 75-acre (30 ha) fenced-off radiological waste site of the United States Air Force Installation Restoration Program contaminated primarily with "weapons-grade plutonium (WGP), highly-enriched and depleted uranium." The Cold War nuclear accident occurred at Launcher Shelter 204, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (commonly known as the McGuire Unit at Fort Dix), Burlington County, New Jersey, United States, approximately 16.1 miles (25.9 km) south-southeast of Trenton. Launcher Shelter 204 stored the CIM-10 Bomarc missile (one of fifty-four at the base).
"On 7 June 1960, an explosion in a helium tank [between the missile's fuel tanks took place in Shelter 204 causing a fire in a liquid-fueled, nuclear-tipped BOMARC missile. The fire burned uninhibited for about 30 minutes. Firefighting activities, using water as a suppressant, were conducted for 15 hours. As a result, materials from the shelter flowed under the front shelter doors, down the asphalt apron and street between the row of shelters, and into the drainage ditch". "Contamination was restricted to an area immediately beneath the weapon and an adjacent elongated area approximately 100 feet long". A nuclear response team from Griffiss Air Force Base found "no trace of dispersed radiation" during spot checks "outside the facility's boundaries" for 66 mi (106 km). Approximately 300 g (11 oz) of WGP was not recovered, "A significant fraction of the radiological material contained in the weapon [was] shipped…to Medina Base, San Antonio TX" and then to Amarillo.
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Wikipedia