Divine Strake explosion delayed, possibly moved

[NVMojo]

August 2, 2006

The massive Divine Strake non-nuclear explosion planned for the Nevada Test Site won't be detonated -- if at all -- until next year and possibly at another site, outside of Nevada, defense officials said Tuesday.

The 36-foot-deep pit that was dug this year near the top of Syncline Ridge, 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas, to hold 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil as well as the limestone tunnel that the blast was intended to crush, has been mothballed, said Irene Smith, a spokeswoman for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
"We've secured the tunnel. We've gone in and covered all the electronic wiring so you can go back at a later time," she said late Tuesday in an telephone interview from Fort Belvoir, Va.

A statement from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency says the agency's director "has agreed to assess possible other sites for the experiment."

Smith said she didn't know for sure what other locations will be considered. However, she said, "Places that we tested before are possibilities: Indiana and White Sands."

She was referring to the White Sands, N.M., missile range and a limestone quarry near Bedford, Ind., where the agency conducted a pair of medium-scale explosions in 2004 and 2005 using 3,000 pounds of nitromethane.

more...

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Aug-02-Wed-2006/news/8830992.html

[soothsayer]

1. Moved to....Iran? Cuba?

[samsingh]

2. more cut and run

:sarcasm:

[anotherdrew]

3. now change the name and we'll be getting somewhere n/t

[krkaufman]

4. Ok, I have a problem with the word "divine" being associated ...

... with ANY government entity, let alone the military. The name really does need to change.