Translated with AI
The US Central Intelligence Agency lost a portable nuclear-powered generator during a covert operation in the Himalayas in the 1960s, The New York Times reports.
According to the publication, the CIA planned to establish a surveillance system on China after Beijing's nuclear tests. To this end, the agency dispatched a team of experienced climbers to the Himalayas to place the necessary equipment, including a 22-kilogram SNAP-19C portable nuclear device and antennas with a transceiver, on the summit of Mount Nanda Devi (7,816 meters above sea level).
The site was chosen because of its location on the India-China border, which allowed surveillance for hundreds of miles into China and tracking missile launches.
However, just as the climbers were about to reach the summit, the weather deteriorated sharply, and a snowstorm arose. The team leader, stationed at the lower camp, ordered the equipment to be hidden where it was.
As a result, the team members effectively abandoned a nuclear device containing nearly a third of all the plutonium used in the bombing of Nagasaki.
The device hasn't been seen since. When CIA climbers returned to the mountain in 1966, the generator was no longer there. It's believed it may have frozen into the glacier.
