The Department of Energy is worried that its nuclear
bombs won’t blow up. So on July 2, it performed the first in a
series of underground detonations at its Nevada Test Site, a 1,350
square-mile area in Nye County, northwest of Las Vegas. The
Department of Energy insists the tests are safe and necessary, but
environmentalists and arms control groups say they violate the 1992
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, a 61-nation agreement to halt all
nuclear explosions and weapons
research.
Department of Energy spokesman Greg
Cook says the tests, in which scientists blow up canisters of
plutonium in an underground chamber, will help ensure the safety
and reliability of the nation’s stockpile of 9,800 aging nuclear
warheads. The results, says Cook, will allow scientists to simulate
nuclear tests on supercomputers, part of the agency’s long-term
weapons management plan.
Cook says there’s no
treaty violation because the tests are “subcritical,” which means
they don’t involve nuclear chain reactions. He says the tests are
an addition to the agency’s regular inspection program, which
involves visits to storage facilities and chemical experiments that
gauge the weapons’ stability.
Sam Cole,
spokeswoman for Physicians for Social Responsibility, a nationwide
advocacy group, says there is no evidence that the tests are
necessary. “The government is hiding behind “safety and
reliability” to enhance their knowledge and fuel the arms race,”
she charges.
More tests are scheduled for the
fall and over the next several years, at a cost of $15 million-$20
million each.
*Emily
Miller
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Bombs tested in Nevada.
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