A mushroom cloud over Vegas in June
Perhaps you’re familiar with the atomic bomb testing southern Nevadans innocently witnessed in the 50s. Today it’s certainly difficult to fathom atomic bomb explosions as a spectator sport.
Did you know the federal government is planning a 700 ton explosion in southern Nevada that’s expected to send a cloud over Las Vegas in June? Didn’t think so. In fact, it’s a little known project called Divine Strake and chances are officials are working feverishly to control the buzz that’s sure to surround such a significant explosion.
“I don’t want to sound glib here,” remarked James Tegnelia, head of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, “but it is the first time in Nevada that you’ll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons.” Is anyone else alarmed by that statement?
Apparently the test is part of a U.S. effort to develop weapons capable of destroying deeply buried bunkers housing nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
And aren’t you glad the government is planning this test for our desert valley? Apparently it’s of interest to our Russian friends, as Tegnelia said the Russians have been notified of the test. I’m certainly glad the Russians know what’s happening in Nevada before the Nevadans do. Thanks guys.
Divine Strake is a test scheduled for June 2, 2006 at the Nevada Test Site sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. The 700 ton explosion has a two-fold purpose: 1) to study ground shock effects on deeply buried tunnel structures, and 2) to analyze the air blast produced by the buried charge and its modification as it propagates over the local terrain.
Remember last year when a developer’s dynamite explosion got a bit too unruly for its Henderson foothill neighbors? The result was a lawsuit and insurance settlement for the affected homeowners. Imagine how upset the neighbors will be when this explosion occurs. It could be a windfall for local attorneys, that is if the neighbors remain indoors long enough to survive the mushroom cloud that will travel over the Las Vegas valley.
And since this is 2006 and not 1951 when the explosion “Dog” from Operation Buster, with a yield of 21 kilotons, was the first U.S. nuclear field exercise conducted on land (southern Nevada land mind you; with U.S. troops watching unprotected at a mere 6 miles distance), perhaps you’d like to know a little more about the Nevada Test Site.
The Nevada Test Site, approximately 1,375 square miles and larger than Rhode Island, is in Nye County about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. From 1951 to 1992 the Nevada Test Site was home to 952 announced nuclear tests (yes, many were unannounced; aren’t they sneaky?). The government also tested nuclear bombs elsewhere, but only 129 of them (many at the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Marshall Islands).
In the 1950s mushroom clouds from the tests were regular tourist attractions in Las Vegas where they could be seen from hotel rooms along the Strip.
Perhaps if you act soon, you could book the Strip’s most elevated hotel room with a view to the northwest and stake out the horizon the first week of June. If you had a digital or video camera you could probably even make some money selling the images you collect when the Defense Threat Reduction Agency does its thing. Good luck. And remember, you heard it first here, at Blogging Vegas.
