The entire incident was a broken arrow incident. The entire weapon was lost, core included. The core is generally believed to have been found in the aircraft wreckage on land, albeit many years later. The bomb, sans core, is still a considered a nuclear device in that anyone finding it could easily use it to advance their own nuke programs.

Had these objects landed anywhere other than one of the most rugged places in all Canada, armies would have descended to retrieve every scrap.