OK, everybody repeat after me:

These were not parts from a Mark-12 nuclear bomb.

They were parts from a Mk-12 re-entry vehicle, the cone-shaped body that houses a W-62 nuclear warhead -- obsolete, yes -- but a weapon that is still in service, sitting on top of intercontinental ballistic missiles with launch crews at the ready 24 hours a day to fire them.

I loved the earlier comment about the Ark of the Covenant, but this is not your grand-dad's nuclear bomb. No vacuum tubes. No steampunk.

At any given moment more than 100 of these things are about a 40-minute flight away from detonating over Moscow, Beijing, Taipei (if they decide to ship them the fast way), or wherever...

The parts sent were actually from the Mark-12 re-entry vehicle, which carries the W-62 nuclear warhead, the original warhead mounted on the Minuteman III ICBM. These warheads are in the process of being retired right now, but there are still some on active service out in the missile silos.