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Fifth subcritical test postponed at Nevada Test Site

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 1998 | 12:54 p.m.

The fifth in a series of so-called subcritical experiments was put on a one-day hold for technical reasons.

The DOE said problems with the experiment's diagnostic package forced the delay.

The scheduled experiment is a set of packages to measure early time dynamic behavior of nuclear material, the DOE said.

The experiment is the first since a Sept. 27 test that prompted criticism from the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - the only cities ever to suffer atomic bombings.

Subcritical experiments are done without nuclear testing since a moratorium that went into effect in 1992. No self-sustaining nuclear chain reactions occur.

The DOE contends the experiments 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.

In the past, subcritical experiments have drawn protests from anti-nuclear groups who claim the tests are part of a nuclear-testing program.

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