For all who are concerned - "Divine Strake" has been delayed --

[enlightenment]

It was mentioned early this morning on the local (LV) news, although I have not been able to find a link on the news web sites as yet.

LVBlogger does have a brief bit, which follows what the TV news reported:
-snip-
"Today we learned that Nevada's Environmental Protection Division has halted the Divine Strake conventional explosives test until the National Nuclear Security Administration can demonstrate that the massive explosion will comply with state and federal air quality standards. Hey, there’s a good idea.

They’re also asking that hazardous pollutants be identified before the blast and tracked once it occurs."
-snip-
http://www.bloggingvegas.com/lasvegas/news/divine_strake_test_put_to_a_halt-11035.html
-------------------------------------

It's not much, but does suggest that at least the State government will bow to public scrutiny.

[Joe Fields]

1. Thanks.

[AndyA]

2. The whole idea is ridiculous in my opinion.

I'm glad to hear someone is looking out for the public interest. It's pretty obvious our federal government isn't going to do it.

[katinmn]

3. Hallelujah! But this was close.

We need to impeach Bush and the other nutjobs before it's too late.

[enlightenment]

6. Unfortunately, I'm not sure this will stop it for good;

But at least it will be scrutinized.

[spuddonna]

4. Does anyone know - did they remove the contaminated soil...

... from all the previous nuke tests done in the desert?

I grew up back east and never thought about all the contaminated earth that would have been created from the nuke testing. The reason I ask is if they go about detonating conventional warheads and they haven't removed the contaminated earth, aren't they just going to hurl more radioactive crap all over the desert towns surrounding this area? Just wondering...

[Richard Steele]

8. No, they haven't. And it's not just the LOCALS who would be affected.

If they are simulating a 'bunker buster',
it would throw much more crap into the air
than any of those old nuke tests ever did.

The toxic dust would be detectable in the air in China, eventually.

[spuddonna]

11. They never cleared the sites?!

:wow: Holy crap! I always thought they would have been required to dig up all that dirt and store it in Yucca Mt or something!

[Richard Steele]

13. Where could anyone "store" a thousand square miles of desert?

And digging it up would kick up alot more dust than
gets blown around naturally.
Not to mention the amazing cancer/leukemia rates we'd
see amongst the work crews who dug and hauled it.

There's NO safe way to remove such stuff;
the 'least bad' option is to leave it right where it is.

[spuddonna]

14. I dunno... I hadn't thought about it...

I guess quarantining the area is all that can be done... It's just such wanton destruction, it makes my head hurt thinking about the concept that they think nukes can be a 'solution' to anything... and it made me start thinking about what would happen if they decided to 'restart' testing in the desert...

[enlightenment]

9. The area that they planned to use for this detonation,

according to the 'official' documents, was not used for the nuclear tests in the 50s and 60s. It did house workers (or soldiers, or somebody) at the NTS, and there is an historic building from the early 20th mining period -- which is so eroded that it really isn't worth preserving (and I say that as a big proponent of historic preservation!)

So -- presumably there isn't a problem with radioactive crap flying around. Just the conventional crap (ammonium nitrate).

[spuddonna]

12. Ok, so what health risks does conventional explosive pose?

Any idea?

I was talking on another thread about this Divine Strake being the pre-testing for the 'renamed' bunker buster testing that was supposed to be unfunded as of last Oct. We were discussing an article that suggested the project was 'renamed' to push it thru on the sly.

If this is related to that newer bunker buster testing, it could be a 'sled test' of a conventional weapon to show how effective a nuke could be at penetrating hardened materials.

I've read about how Depleted Uranium is used to create especially lethal weapons that slice thru tanks like butter. It would seem like a good engineering idea to use that same type of material for the nose portion of a missile. Would the DoD be required to notify the local residents if they planned on using DU in the area?

[enlightenment]

19. That's a good question.

I wish I had as good of an answer. All I've been able to determine (and mind, I'm no expert!) is that there is some evidence that ammonium nitrate (fertilizer)can cause "irritation" to skin, mucus membrane, and the lungs. Rats have survived, but there hasn't been much testing.

I believe that this is a test to determine the amount of concussive force it would take to "neutralize" a deeply buried tunnel. Since it really isn't practical in a war zone to truck in 700 tons of a fertilizer and fuel oil slurry, dig a hole, pour it in, plant an additional 300 pounds of C-4, and THEN blow it up -- I'd say that this test is a way of getting around the ban on open-air nuclear testing.

The DOD isn't required to tell the local residents squat -- the NTS is federal land. I think the only reason they tell us anything is to deflect attention from all the stuff they're not telling us. They didn't tell us about this -- the pre-approval document was buried in a PDF file on the Nevada State Office of Energy web site, and the public commentary period ended in January.

[enlightenment]

20. My apologies; I listed the wrong obscure NV state web site --

the correct one is:

www.nv.doe.gov/library/publications/environmental.aspx

[spuddonna]

21. Thanks so much for all the info...

I really appreciate the time and effort. These are bizarre times... I said in another thread that it feels like the * has catapulted us back to the middle of the 1950's and the Cold War.

[enlightenment]

23. I'm a history teacher, spuddonna --

it's not only second nature, it often makes me an annoying, pedantic know-it-all. I suppose it's kind of a Pavlovian reaction -- bell rings, dog salivates/question asked, mouth starts moving!

And speaking of offering more information than asked -- have you seen "Atomic Cafe"? Hysterically funny, particularly if you are old enough to remember bomb shelters, Burt the Turtle, and duck and cover! Another not so funny one that deals with the atomic testing in the Pacific is "Radio Bikini" -- pretty intense, so be prepared.

If you're interested, try your local libraries -- I don't think Blockbuster considers them marketable.

[spuddonna]

24. Well, I love to learn...

... so it's all good to me!

And I will look for those movies. Thanks! :7

[Marie26]

5. Public outcry can make a difference. nt

[Richard Steele]

7. If this action holds, it will PREVENT this test altogether.

This line alone should shut it down entirely:
They’re also asking that hazardous pollutants be identified
before the blast and tracked once it occurs.

This is a TESTING GROUND we are talking about here.
Do you have any idea of the 'hazardous pollutants' that are
sitting in that soil? Lots of them, and pretty nasty ones too!

Not to mention the residual radiation from all those old nuke tests.

There's no way the government wants the Sheeple to even see
a list of that nasty stuff during an election year,
even just what's sitting there undisturbed.

And then to actually TRACK a cloud of it,
after they blow 100 thousand tons of contaminated soil into the air
and it starts to drift across the nation?

No, that isn't good PR for them.

[originalpckelly]

10. Strake

Here is a news story by the Washington Post on "Divine Strake":
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/30/AR2006033001735.html?nav=rss_nation
It is a really suspicious test, because they claim that the ANFO will be 700 tons and will produce a bomb blast equivalent to 593 tons of TNT. It would actually require 1412 tons of ANFO to do that because it has a relative effectiveness factor of 0.42 and R.E. is how effective an explosive is compared with TNT. Here is a Wikipedia article on the R.E. Factor:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.E._factor
Furthermore, they claim that this weapon will eventually be used in combat. Even if we use an explosive with the one of the highest R.E. Factors, HMX, we still find the bomb would need to be 349 tons. The lumbering giant, the C-5 Galaxy, can only carry 135 tons. A bomb so big cannot be delivered. The final product of this testing cannot be used in combat unless it is a nuclear weapon.
This in combination with the recent report from Sy Hersh, makes me think they are either testing:
1. A conventional bomb (which will be a static test) to approximate the damage a nuclear bunker buster can cause
or;
2. A nuclear bunker buster to see if it would be useful against Iran's enrichment facilities.

[Tin Man]

18. Exacte-mundo!

Another clue about the objective of Divine Strake test below:

Airblast from Underground Explosions
Philip Hookham, Titan Research

Abstract:
Two- and three-dimensional computational fluid and solid dynamics calculations were performed to predict the airblast and dust environment for the DIVINE STRAKE high explosive field test. The DIVINE STRAKE test is planned to be a large-yield, buried burst detonated at the Nevada Test Site. The early-time airblast, crater formation, and ejecta environment were calculated using the two-dimensional CRALE code. This solution was then overlayed onto two- and three-dimensional MAZe code computational meshes. The MAZe calculations simulated the airblast environment as well as the propagation of the dusty environment produced by the ejecta and subsequent dust sweep-up. The airblast environment will be compared to test measurements when they become available, while the predicted dust environment will be used to aid in planning of the test.

from http://www.saviac.org/76th_Symposium/Abstracts/L-35.htm

Reading between the lines: the objective of the Divine Strake test is to evaluate the "airblast and dust environment" of ejecta (i.e. potential distribution of radioactive fallout) that might result from a "large-yield, buried burst" (i.e. RNEP weapon). In Divine Strake, they intend to use a shitload of conventional explosives to simulate the nuke weapon, in order to measure the size and propagation of the resulting dust cloud (simulated nuclear fallout).

[leftchick]

22. wouldn't that be like comparing apples

to watermelons?

[Tin Man]

25. Common practice in science and engineering.

Quite often, there's no need to run a full scale test - in order to gather the necessary data to predict the behavior of a larger system, one need only run an equivalent, scaled down version of the intended design (caveat: you must have good understanding of how system performance is influenced by the scale factor).

[The Stranger]

15. Wow, no recommendations? WTF?

[elehhhhna]

16. They named a bomb exercize after a Drag Diva? OMTg!!11!!!1

[Rocknrule]

17. The next war will probably be called the Allen Parson's Project

or Preparation H