AMARILLO, Texas — The last of the nation's most powerful nuclear bombs has been taken apart in Texas.

Technicians at the Pantex Plant near Amarillo removed the uranium Tuesday from the last of the nation's largest nuclear bombs, a Cold War relic known as the B53.

The bomb put into service in 1962 was 600 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, that killed as many as 140,000 people at the end of World War II.

Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman watched workers take the bomb apart. He says it's "a milestone accomplishment" and a step toward President Barack Obama's mission to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

The nation's largest nuclear bomb now is the 1.2-megaton B83. The B53 was 9 megatons.

First Published October 25, 2011, 9:24 p.m.