U.S. To Set Underground Nuke Blasts 

By H. JOSEF HEBERT 
Associated Press Writer 
Friday, April 4, 1997 5:37 pm EST 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After a year's delay, the Energy Department said 
Friday it will conduct two underground explosions this year using 
nuclear materials at the federal test site in Nevada. 

The tests have prompted protests from anti-nuclear proliferation
groups, which view them as a possible prelude to renewed atomic
testing and development of new weapon designs. 

Energy Secretary Federico Pena, who announced the tests, said they
are "an essential component of the department's program for 
ensuring the safety and reliability of the (nuclear weapons)
stockpile." 

Energy Department scientists took pains to emphasize that each
of the two underground tests -- one in June and a second in the
fall -- will involve chemical, not nuclear, explosions. Officials 
said the largest explosion would be equivalent to 81 pounds of TNT. 

Although small amounts of plutonium -- about a pound for each of
three charges in the first test -- will be present, the package is 
designed so that it will not achieve a nuclear chain reaction. 

The tests are "fully consistent" with the nuclear test-ban treaty 
signed by President Clinton last September, said Joan Rohlfing, 
deputy assistant secretary for national security. 

"It will not in any way facilitate new-weapons development," 
Rohlfing said in a conference telephone call with reporters. 

In anticipation of the government's announcement, several hundred 
protesters gathered at gates to the Nevada test site in recent 
days. Twenty-two protesters were arrested Thursday when they 
blocked highway traffic by chaining themselves to concrete-filled
barrels. 

Critics have questioned whether these experiments are needed to 
ensure the existing nuclear stockpile is reliable -- as DOE nuclear 
scientists contend. They argue that scaled-back tests at weapons 
labs can develop the information needed. 

"The program they have put together is vastly larger and more 
expensive than what is needed. It's a program that if it were 
ultimately successful would also enable them to design new weapons 
without testing," said Tom Cochran, a leading nuclear weapons
expert with the private Natural Resources Defense Council. 

Cochran said nuclear nonproliferation efforts "would be better 
served" if the Nevada test site were closed down. The government 
conducted 928 nuclear weapons tests during the Cold War years at 
the Nevada site, the last in 1992. 

Energy Department officials, trying to dispel concern about the 
tests, released a review of the test design by an independent panel 
of scientists, known as the Jason group. 

The Jason report said the tests would add "valuable scientific 
information" on the performance of nuclear weapons. "There is no 
conceivable scenario in which these experiments lead to 
criticality," the scientific panel concluded. 

The detonations 980 feet underground are supposed to help scientists determine how parts of a warhead, including the small 
amount of plutonium, behave under explosive pressure. This 
information will be used later to develop computer models that 
simulate actual nuclear detonation. 

Plans had been announced in late 1995 for a series of six such 
"subcritical" tests with the first four expected last year. But 
the tests were delayed for a variety of reasons, including
problems developing an environmental impact statement and to get an independent scientific review, said Rohlfing. 

"What the Energy Department is doing is using technical jargon to 
cover up the real issues," said Bruce Hall of Greenpeace, which 
participated in this week's protests at the test site. "They're 
advancing the frontier of nuclear weapons science to help them 
better predict the performance of nuclear weapons." 

                  © Copyright 1997 The Associated Press