Practice Makes Perf------

The Air Force insists the bomb was being used for practice and did not contain the plutonium trigger needed for a nuclear explosion. [Emphasis added]

That sentence, like the story from which it comes, manages to be as distressing as it is assuring.   See also this bit: "The United States lost 11 nuclear bombs in accidents during the Cold War that were never recovered, according to the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank." Oh. Shades of Richard Jordan's response to Joss Ackland in The Hunt For Red October?   Natchety-natch....