[ RadSafe ] Tonight's NCIS:LA TV - a (nuclear) blast

[Strickert, Rick (Consultant)]

Tonight's season finale of NCIS:Los Angeles (8 PM CT; CBS) features a terrorist plot and a nuclear explosion.  

A preview of the episode (http://www.aceshowbiz.com/video/download/00042322/) shows a brief scene of the nuclear explosion.

Given Hollywood's strict adherence to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 (and the show's limited budget), it is no surprise that the nuclear explosion was just a cropped video of the May 25, 1963, Grable 15 Kt explosion, which was the only test using "Atomic Annie," the 280 mm M65 cannon that fired an atomic projectile at the Nevada Test Site (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT4mSoZsbzM). 

Compare the NCIS video at 1 sec to the Grable shot at 15 secs to see the similarity. 

Back in a February, 2010, episode of the original NCIS show, the team reached into their equipment inventory to measure suspected radioactive contamination using an old CDV-700 geiger counter (http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YsCQMVm4Ur0/S2inVpNU-iI/AAAAAAAAAEc/utpPSR3ZFig/s640/NCIS%20Rad%20Equipment.JPG).


Rick Strickert
Austin, TX