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November 14, 2009

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Second nuclear-related test set Thursday at the Nevada Test Site

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 1997 | 4:34 a.m.

Thursday's subcritical test follows one in June that was the first nuclear-related test at the Nevada Test Site since a 1992 moratorium went into effect.

The Department of Energy says the tests are essential to the nation's program to maintain the safety and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile in the absence of underground nuclear testing.

The experiment will consist of two simultaneous non-nuclear explosions in a chamber sealed from the rest of the tunnel complex with a two-foot concrete and steel plus.

A plutonium disk will be bolted onto a chemical explosive for one explosion, and onto a high explosive disk for another.

Both the shape and small amount of plutonium - about the size of a 50-cent piece - are designed to prevent a self-sustaining nuclear reaction and not violate the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Date obtained from the experiment will allow scientists to answer basic questions about the way plutonium reacts when it is shocked.

Before the test moratorium, weapons would be taken out of the stockpile and tested underground or in the atmosphere to determine their reliability.

Seventeen anti-nuclear activists were arrested on trespass charges prior to the first test.

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