They are feared the world over, with governments working hard to prevent rogue states developing them and peace campaigners calling for them to be banned completely.
Such is there power, nuclear weapons are capable of causing mass destruction, with entire countries able to be wiped off the map if deployed.
But it was not so long ago that the American Air Force lost nuclear weapons over the skies of the U.S in two separate incidents. Even more incredible is the fact that nobody was killed in either incident.
Lucky escape: This image shows how close the bomb landed to the house. it completely destroyed a playhouse but incredibly the family all survived
The most shocking incident happened in 1958 when the air force accidentally dropped a nuclear bomb on a little girls’ playhouse in South Carolina.
As reported by 109.com, an American B-47E bomber was flying from Savannah, Georgia to England’s Bruntingthorpe Air Base in Leicestershire for routine exercises.
It was carrying a Mark 6 30-kiloton fission bomb.
The captain of the bomber, Bruce Kulka, decided to go into the aircraft’s bomb bay to look at the weapon after difficulties during the flight with its locking pin.
But the unfortunate captain had no idea where to find the locking pin in the bomb release mechanism.
He searched for the pin for 12 minutes before rightly realising it was high up in the bomb bay.
He jumped up to see where he thought the locking pin was but unfortunately chose the emergency bomb-release mechanism for his handhold.
