This may be wrong or apocryphal or a third thing: But I recall reading that this is a deliberate affect used by those who work with nuclear material. Partly as

This may be wrong or apocryphal or a third thing: But I recall reading that this is a deliberate affect used by those who work with nuclear material. Partly as a shibboleth, partly as a means of making the word easier to say quickly. It came up because George W Bush would pronounce it “nucular” and that was given as the reason. All if my memory serves that is.