LAS VEGAS, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- A controversial non-nuclear test explosion known as Divine Strake was canceled this week by the U.S. Defense Department.
The experiment involved detonating a pit loaded with 700 tons of explosive ammonium nitrate slurry to see what effect the blast would have on a tunnel deep beneath the Nevada Test Site, but it raised concerns about possible clouds of radioactive dirt left behind by Cold War atomic testing being spread over the region.
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency said in a news release late Thursday it had determined it was time to look at alternatives to Divine Strake, which was aimed at advancing U.S. "ability to defeat underground facilities that produce and store weapons of mass destruction."
The agency lamented that alternative means of accumulating the needed data currently don't exist, but pledged to develop smaller-scale experiments that would do the trick. The statement added the decision to scrub Divine Strake was not based on any evidence the test would cause any harm to the environment or to people in the region.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal said Friday that area lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, opposed the experiment. Also, lawsuits filed to stop the test had added more than $2 million to the cost of the $23 million test.
