Divine Strake stricken by Pentagon
The Pentagon announced today (Feb. 22, 2007) it would scrap plans to conduct its massive 700-ton blast originally planned for last June at the Nevada Test Site. The cancellation came after a flood of public opposition and heat from bloggers. Blogging Vegas was among the first to voice opposition to the idea (read A mushroom cloud over Vegas in June, Divine Strake test put to a hault, and 700-ton blast now held-up in Las Vegas federal court).
Divine Strake entailed detonating 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, the same mixture used to blow up the Oklahoma City federal building, but 280 times more of it. They planned to use computers to measure the ground-shaking to a tunnel under the blast site. This data would then be used in computer models to predict damage to underground bunkers.
"I have become convinced that it’s time to look at alternative methods that obviate the need for this type of large-scale test," James Tegnelia, director of the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency, said in a statement.
Hum, I wonder who “convinced” him. Might it be the down-winders from Caliente, Nev. to St. George, Utah? How about politicians and environmental groups? I’m sure people from all nearby camps are pleased to hear the news that Divine Strake has been stricken.
Our first reaction, although denied by the Pentagon, was that the 700-ton explosion could spew debris into the air, spreading Cold War leftovers—radiation, folks—into the atmosphere.
The agency said the decision was not a result of any information that indicated the test might harm workers or the public. No, of course not.
Our second thought was, what plane could carry out the delivery of such a large bomb? From what we’ve read, there isn’t one.
According to the agency, there’s a national consensus on the need to improve conventional capabilities to defeat underground targets that pose a threat to the United States. What American would argue with that?
Still, why carry out Divine Strake in the real world? Why not computerize the test much like NASA experiments before sending astronauts into space?
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency said it would look for other ways to collect the information needed to determine how to destroy underground targets. "DTRA remains committed to help develop non-nuclear means to defeat underground targets. I am optimistic that we will succeed," said Tegnelia.
We’re optimistic too. And we’ll be even more optimistic for such tests to occur outside of Nevada.
