Interesting article....

Thanks, Daark !

Other countries will now be under even more pressure to re-invigorate
their nuclear weapons programs.....

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DaarkSyde@home.com wrote in message news:<cvlmkvk5jc57ev8rlfj9492hnccfabveqs@4ax.com>...

Nuclear experiment scheduled in 2004 at Nevada Test Site

Associated Press

8/25/2003 01:40 pm
Federal scientists are preparing to conduct a nuclear materials
experiment at the Nevada Test Site in 2004, the National Nuclear
Security Administration said.

The National Nuclear Security Administration said last week that it
will conduct a subcritical experiment, named Unicorn, in a cavern
about 1,000 feet beneath the Test Site, roughly 85 miles northwest of
Las Vegas.

Subcritical experiments involve exposing tiny amounts of nuclear
materials to high explosives, but the resulting blast stops short of
producing a nuclear chain reaction. Subcritical experiments allow
scientists to study how plutonium and other radioactive materials
behave when detonated with explosives.

The subcritical experiments are designed to test the skills of U.S.
nuclear weapons experts and the materials contained in the U.S.
nuclear arsenal.

Unicorn will be the nation's 20th subcritical experiment since the
program began in 1997. The most recent one was called Rocco, conducted
on Sept. 26, 2002.

The exact date for next year's experiment has not been set, officials
said. Initial site preparation for the experiment is under way, Darwin
Morgan, an administration spokesman said.

"This activity, and the means for emplacement of the experimental
hardware into the vertical hole, will appear visually similar to those
employed in underground nuclear tests conducted prior to the 1992
moratorium,"according to an administration statement.

Former President George Bush imposed a moratorium on nuclear testing
in September 1992.

But current Bush administration officials said last year that they
wanted the Test Site to be prepared to resume full-scale nuclear tests
within 18 months, roughly half the time it would take to prepare for
such experiments today.