The US military once detonated a nuclear bomb directly above the heads of 5 officers

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US military Private First Class Jack Wilson (left, fore) and Sergeant Glenn Poth (right, fore) look at the smoke plume of a nuclear detonation as part of Operation Tumbler-Snapper at the Nevada Proving Grounds, Nevada, early to mid 1952.
The five men weren't required — — to stand under the explosion, which, unlike the one pictured here, would have been in the air, about three miles up.

PhotoQuest/Getty Images

'Oppenheimer' leaves out the most terrifying, deadly risk of nuclear weapons because nobody knew about it until the 1980s

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J. Robert Oppenheimer,
J. Robert Oppenheimer on a visit to New York on November 17, 1945.

Getty Images

A secret bomb and ruined film: Why the US government only told Kodak it was going to test nuclear bombs

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A frame on a piece of 35 mm negative film scratched, clouded, and
A damaged roll of 35 millimeter film.

iStock / Getty Images Plus

Long after Oppenheimer, the US is still paying benefits to people who were exposed to radiation from nuclear tests

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A billowing white mushroom cloud, mottled with orange, pushes through a layer of clouds during Operation Ivy, the first test of a hydrogen bomb, at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
A mushroom cloud produced by the first test of a hydrogen bomb during Operation Ivy at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

Here's why the pilot of Enola Gay had no regrets about dropping the first atom bomb designed by Oppenheimer

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Hiroshima
A view of Hiroshima after the dropping of the atom bomb on August 6, 1945.

Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images

'Oppenheimer' leaves out New Mexicans exposed to radiation from the Manhattan Project, despite local efforts to contact filmmakers

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Trinity Test
The mushroom cloud of the first atomic explosion at Trinity Test Site near Alamagordo, New Mexico.

AP Photo/File

The beauty and terror of Oppenheimer's first-ever nuclear test explosion, in the words of those who witnessed it

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Trinity Test
The mushroom cloud of the first atomic explosion at Trinity Test Site in New Mexico on July 16, 1945.

AP Photo/File

How Christopher Nolan recreated the Trinity Test atomic bomb explosion in 'Oppenheimer' without any CGI

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trinity nuclear bomb test distant yellow mushroom cloud erupting into orange sky
A colorized photo of the mushroom cloud produced by the Trinity nuclear test as it rises over the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945.

National Security Research Center

North Korea said the US' latest military actions 'may fall under the conditions' Pyongyang has set for a nuclear first strike

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kim jong un daughter
This photo provided on Nov. 19, 2022, by the North Korean government shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, and his daughter at the site of a missile launch at Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, Nov. 18, 2022.

Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via Associated Press

Warren Buffett may feel torn about the 'Barbenheimer' clash. He's sold special-edition Barbies and warned about Oppenheimer's atomic bomb.

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Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger debuting a See's Candies Barbie
Warren Buffett (left) and Charlie Munger debuting a See's Candies Barbie.

CNBC's Warren Buffett Archive

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