Nuclear Experiment Planned in Nevada

[Champ]

LAS VEGAS - Government scientists plan to conduct an underground nuclear experiment Tuesday at the Nevada Test Site, the National Nuclear Security Administration said.


The subcritical experiment, dubbed "Armando," will involve detonating high explosives around plutonium in a steel sphere while X-rays, radar and lasers chart the behavior of the radioactive element in a non-nuclear explosion.


Scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are conducting the test in a tunnel 963 feet below ground at the Nevada Test Site, about 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas.


"Armando" is the 21st subcritical experiment at the test site, and the third in a series. Its predecessors, "Mario" and "Rocco," were conducted in August and September 2002.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&u=/ap/200...

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Nuclear experiment in Nevada: my first guess was Yucca Mountain and

the nuclear garbage dump.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. Yucca Mt will be a nuclear ACCIDENT, not experiment...

[diamond14]

3. bush* is now making and testing NUCLEAR BOMBS again...

if there is to be any future for America and the World...this must be stopped and stopped NOW...."denotated high explosives around plutonium" can be translated from bush-ese PR into what they are really doing: "resuming underground testing of nuclear bombs"


"If I had known what they would do with my work, I would have become a plummer or a peddler." (Albert Einstein)


"Science without Humanity" is one of the cardinal sins...

[bobthedrummer]

11. And the RNC's numero uno issue is support for Reagan's SDI today.

NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.

[PATRICK]

4. researching dirty bombs?

It's nice they are so forthcoming on details so as not to suggest they are detonating nukes, but any guesses as to what value these experiments have?

Sounds to me like anti-terrorism research instead of the new tactical generation of nukes Bush has planned.

[LivingInTheBubble]

5. Anti terrorism research?

Surely testing car bombs should come first if that is the case. Or "testing" RPGs?

This is testing of nuclear bombs, just spun to sound better.

[JM]

6. I don't think this is a dirty bomb study

as much as it is a study of what will happen if missing warheads from the Russian Republics show up in terrorist hands and are detonated using conventional explosives.

I don't think anyone doing a dirty bomb is going to pack a suitcase with a batch of plutonium in a steel sphere.

JM

[PATRICK]

9. Good, I meant some form of terrorism

and this is more specifically for that scenario? Is that mentioned at all by our brilliant and curious news reporters?

It seems naturally important as to what the goals of this test are. Telling us the details might just be to allay fears of treaty breaking real nuke blasts underground but this seems very open for a military research project.

[Hornito]

7. As someone who was exposed as a child to nuclear weapons

testing fallout, with resultant cancers and a lifetime of health problems (none of which the government has yet taken responsibility for), and who has seen whole families wiped out while the government lied and prevaricated, this upsets the hell out of me (understatement).

As a Nevadan, it's past time we put a stop to this irresponsible, and dangerous use of our land, especially when it's situated a mere stone's throw from the fastest growing city in the nation (Las Vegas), and the hundreds of thousands of families living there.

Nuclear power is not all bad. Properly handled, it can be, beneficial to humankind. What's bad, are those who use the technology for weapons. The people running the programs (for both peaceful purpose, and otherwise), have a documented predilection for lying and cover up. They CANNOT be trusted. Nuclear technology is far too dangerous to be left to those who have no qualms about sacrificing their fellow humans, to further their mad embrace of the technology, regardless of purpose.

Unless, and until, weapons testing is completely banned, and some type of fail-safe regulatory and waste disposal system can be set up (for peaceful purposes), all nuclear use, other than medical, should be halted and banned.

The thought of nuclear weapons in the hands of ideologically insane wackos like those in the Bush administration, should send a chill down the spines of all peoples, in all nations, especially our own. If there were no other reason to remove these people from office, here's a huge one.

[Just Me]

8. The day the neocons managed to obtain consent to start testing,...

,...and creating new nuclear arms,...I broke into tears. I still remember Feinstein on the floor vigorously opposing such authorization. When it was pushed through anyway,...I felt a reversal of all great leaps towards disarmament and peace among humanity. Of course, we do have oil diggers and arms dealers in charge of this country. So, we should expect nothing less.

[hunter]

10. I imagine they are testing alternative bomb configurations...

There is a very small chance they are trying to see what might happen if an amateur terrorist bomb maker has got some plutonium, but I doubt that...

They are probably working on some new kind of bomb -- one that is smaller, one that is designed for some specific purpose such as "bunker busting," one that requires less maintainence, or one that is more difficult to use if stolen.

Think of bomb designs as if they are new car designs and you'll have a much better foundation for your speculations. (Yes, I know that is very sick and perverted way of thinking, but that's the way it is...)

[daleo]

13. I agree, it sounds like they are testing mini-nukes

You don't have to let the reaction go critical to get the data needed for bomb development. PNAC loves mini-nukes, bunker busters, nuclear activated x-ray lasers, etc. This could also be for space weapons research.

[qwertyMike]

12. Will the next one be called Vito? :)

[sandnsea]

15. First one was Vito

haha, funny you should post that! I just posted below.

[sandnsea]

14. Los Alamos "Research Highlights"

Somebody a whole lot smarter than me should read this. I don't even know what to cut and paste, but I'm sure somebody around here understands all of this.

Vito, Mario, Rocco, and Armando

http://www.lanl.gov/p/rh03_fulton.shtml

[hunter]

17. I quite enjoyed all those secure connections I jumped through...

Just by clicking a little link on DU. Makes me feel like a pirate! Arrrrrrrrrrrrr....



But I loved it... "Cast or Wrought Plutonium?" Honestly, I've never thought about that before.

And then they say breathlessly:

The combination of the confirmatory experiments and the actual events were executed with rapidity reminiscent of the heyday of underground nuclear testing.

Oooooooh, baby, after all these years, we're still HOT!

Dr. Strangelove, do me again!!!!!!

[Frangible]

16. I don't think this is a big deal

But that's just me.