Subcritical nuke tests inside, protests outside

Friday, Sept. 19, 1997 | 10:28 a.m.

The U.S. Department of Energy successfully conducted its second subcritical experiment at the Nevada Test Site while anti-nuclear protesters entered the area and were arrested.

Code-named "Holog," the experiment at 1:20 p.m. Thursday gave scientists from the DOE's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory a chance to study plutonium the size of a 50-cent piece after it is bombarded with chemical high explosives.

The DOE conducted a similar experiment at the Test Site on July 2. "Rebound" was also a success.

DOE scientists said the experiments answer basic questions about the way plutonium reacts when shocked and supply information to maintain the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.

Neither experiment created a nuclear chain reaction, which would violate the terms of a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban signed by the United States last year.

Earlier Thursday 17 activists from Shundahai Network, Alliance of Atomic Veterans and Las Vegas Food Not Bombs blockaded the entrance to the Test Site in an attempt to stop the experiment.

Four people were arrested for trespassing after entering the Test Site's boundaries near the entrance, DOE spokesman Derek Scammell said.

Nye County Sheriff's deputies took four people to Beatty after they were caught by Wackenhut security guards about three miles from the actual experiment site at the U1A tunnel complex, Scammell said.

Brad Goans, one of those entering the Test Site, said he worried about groundwater contamination from the experiments. He is an Amargosa Valley resident living southwest of the Test Site.

"I live directly downstream of the NTS groundwater," Goans said. "I depend on my groundwater. They have already proven that contamination from testing and nuclear waste dumping has contaminated Amargosa Valley's water and it is heading my way.

"I am defending my life, by trying to stop these subcritical tests," Goans said.

"The DOE calls these tests subcritical," Reinhard Knutsen, a member of Shundahai Network, said. "We call them hypocritical. They clearly violate the spirit of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty signed by President Clinton almost one year ago and they threaten the international ratification of this treaty."

Russia announced this week and China has announced plans to conduct their own subcritical tests.