Tag Archives: Utah

Today’s Deseret News has published the article, Planned Nevada test blast worries watchdog groups: Detonation could lead to nuclear tests, some fear, referring to the “Divine Stake” test planned for June 2 at the Nevada Test Site. It is indicated that this is part of the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (“bunker buster”) program.

The experiment is called “Divine Strake,” in which 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil will be blown up. (A strake is a line of metal plating along a ship’s hull.)
The explosive material, similar to that used by domestic terrorists to destroy the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, will explode with a force equivalent to 593 tons of TNT. It is expected to raise a mushroom cloud of dust, but officials say it won’t be visible off the test site.
“There is no danger to the population of Las Vegas and the surrounding communities,” says an agency release. “The test does not use a nuclear device, and it does not test a weapon.”

But an environmental assessment has revealed two other compounds will be used: Glo Germ Powder and Fluorescein USP.

Glo Germ Powder would be placed on tarps surrounding the charge hole in order to see how material disperses during the test, says the statement. Glo Germ Powder is “considered to be hazardous if it is burned, and toxic gases can be formed,” the environmental statement says.
“The powder would not be mixed in the . . . blasting agent so it would not be subjected to the oxidizing effects of the detonation.”

The test indicates the Pentagon is determined to move forward with new nuclear weapons development, said Steve Erickson, director of the Salt Lake City military watchdog group Citizens Education Project.

Most activists have heard this news by now. Rest assured we won’t be silent. Details of actions will be posted.

Today’s Salt Lake Tribune: Bomb Test: The Pentagon says it’s just a test and won’t lead to nuclear development

The “Divine Strake Test” is what it has been dubbed. It would
would use ammonium nitrate and fuel oil – a common explosive combination and the same used in the Oklahoma City bombing, only 280 times larger.
It is expected to throw a plume of dust as high as 10,000 feet into the air. Computers on the ground will measure the shockwaves and damage to the tunnel so models can be made, according to Pentagon budget documents, “to improve the warfighter’s confidence in selecting the smallest proper nuclear yield necessary to destroy underground facilities while minimizing collateral damage.”
The blast would be five times larger than the largest existing conventional weapon, but many times smaller than the smallest nuclear weapon in the U.S. stockpile. Similar tests have been conducted in the past at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

The Pentagon has said it plans to detonate 700 tons of explosives above a buried tunnel at the Nevada Test Site in June.

Congressman Jim Matheson says:
“I think this is a precursor for the development of nuclear weapons. I’ve had that suspicion about this administration all along,” Matheson said. “I want to get answers to this before they have the test in June.”

While this is a noble statement, I just don’t believe the latter part of it. Matheson has been a supporter of the Bush Administration’s Iraq campaign and war efforts. I know this from personal experience with Mr. Matheson, having been part of an arrest action in his office in 2003 and then in a meeting with him and several of my activist colleagues as a follow-up to that action. I would like to think the Mr. Matheson is sincere, but actions speak louder than words and his past actions just have not proven that he is opposed to nuclear anything.