Nuclear weapons are real, contrary to conspiracy theory about archival test footage

Cameras were encased in steel and lead, and positioned on towers rooted into the ground with concret

Nevada (AP) - Some on social media are claiming footage of nuclear testing proves such weapons don’t exist because no camera could have survived the blasts. But camera set-ups were specially designed to withstand intense effects from the bombs.

CLAIM: Nuclear weapons are fake because no camera could have survived the blasts seen in archival test footage.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Camera set-ups used to capture nuclear weapons testing in the U.S. were specially designed to withstand intense effects from the bombs. For example, cameras were encased in steel and lead, and positioned on towers rooted into the ground with concrete, as outlined in declassified military reports. Additionally, the existence of nuclear weapons is well documented, most famously by the atomic bombs the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

THE FACTS: Despite ample evidence that nuclear weapons are real, some on social media are questioning their existence following the release of “Oppenheimer,” a drama chronicling the life of the physicist who led the development of the first atomic bomb.

A popular Instagram post included a clip of a July 19 episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” featuring billionaire investor Marc Andreessen, who outlined a “conspiracy theory” that the U.S. faked nuclear weapons testing.

While footage of this testing appears on screen, showing houses and other structures being destroyed, Andreessen says: “So what happened to the camera? How is that happening yet the camera’s totally stable and fine? And by the way, and the film is fine. The radiation didn’t cause any damage to the film.”

The Instagram post takes this erroneous theory seriously, stating that “nukes are FAKE!” and simply “another scare tactic they use against the masses!” It had received more than 3,700 likes as of Friday.

Neither Rogan nor Andreessen immediately responded on Friday to requests for comment.

But nuclear weapons, including those being tested in the archival footage, are very real. Since the U.S. tested the first atomic bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, thousands of nuclear tests have been carried out all over the world, spurred in part by the nuclear arms race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

This includes the above-ground testing in the footage that occurred before it was banned by the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty. More than 30 years later, the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty banned all nuclear explosions on Earth.

Cameras used to film these above-ground tests were protected by specially designed set-ups meant to withstand the enormous impact of nuclear weapons, as detailed in declassified military reports written at the time of the testing.

“The people who did this film and camera work on nuclear tests, this is what they did,” Alex Wellerstein, a historian of science and nuclear technology at the Stevens Institute of Technology, told The Associated Press. “These are very well-qualified engineers whose whole deal is taking unusual pictures of things and inventing entire cameras for doing this.”

For example, one report from 1955 on Operation Teapot, carried out in Nevada, describes 48 cameras used at distances between 2,750 to 10,500 feet from ground zero. Among other precautions, these cameras were placed inside steel boxes with 2.5-inch thick lead shields. Cameras used for exterior shots were housed on 10-to-18-foot towers secured in the ground with concrete, the height of which helped minimize dust obstruction.

Attempts to capture nuclear weapons testing on film were not always successful, despite these efforts. The 1955 report, for instance, notes that major dust obstruction was an issue, especially for interior shots. A report from 1953, on Operation Upshot-Knothole, also conducted in Nevada, describes film that was ruined due to nuclear radiation and cameras that were destroyed from a blast wave.

In addition to documentation showing the tests were real and how they were filmed, are the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — the first and only time nuclear weapons were used in war. These bombings killed at least 200,000 people, including those who died from illnesses caused by radiation exposure even decades later, although it is impossible to know the full impact.

“It’s very odd to imagine they aren’t real, despite quite literally lots of actual physical evidence that you yourself can access if you’re interested,” Wellerstein said of nuclear weaponry.