ExposureBlog

I had a chance to read the DOE’s pre-approval draft of a document titled  ”Large-Scale, Open-Air Exposive Detonation DIVINE STRAKE at the Nevada Test Site (November, 2005.) It can be found here.  The gist: DOE chose the Nevada Test Site for this bunker buster test because it was remote, secure and had limestone similar to what they would expect during combat operations against the current enemy (presumably Al Quieda.) 

The document dismisses the potential problem of radioisotopes in the soil with this:

“The U16b test bed was constructed in 1998, but it was never used for any type of nuclear testing activity.  Based upon this process knowledge, the aerial radiation surveys performed in the past by AMS (aerial measuring system), the current radiological control status of the area under the BN (Bechtel Nevada) radiation protection program, and the knowledge of the area from the NTS (National Test Site) Environmental Restoration (ER) program, NNSA/NSO (National Nuclear Security Administration)is confident that no radioactive contamination exists at U16b.”

In other words, it seems the NNSA’s opinion regarding site contamination is based  on the results of aerial measurement, ”knowledge of the area” from past remediation activity, and, well,  Bechtel’s word that site is safe.

Unfortunately, there are no sample results offered to back up this extraordinary claim.  In matters like this—as with all situations involving the possibility of contamination by substances—the claims must be backed up by numbers.  Qualitative assurances in cases like this are essentially meaningless.

Granted, Divine Strake is a relatively small test.  As the NNSA document notes, other non-nuclear explosions have been equal to or larger than the one scheduled for June.  Among them:

• Dice Throw–620 tons in 1979.
• Distant Runner–2,250 tons in 1981
• Mill Race–620 tons in 1982
• Direct course–609 tons in 1983
• Minor Scale–4,744 tons in 1985
• Misty Picture–4,685 tons in 1987
• Misers Gold–2,445 tons in 1989
• Distant Image–2,440 tons in 1991
• Unnamed shot at U12n—1,410 tons in 1993.

Unfortunately, the authors fail to tell us anything about the debris clouds formed from these detonations.  They may have been small—and if so, then the cloud from Divine Strake will likely not travel far.  But again, the authors give us no information on these shots.  How high did the clouds reach?  Ten feet?  Ten thousand?

Nuclear test code-named Danny Boy was detonated on March 5, 1962 at Test Area 18.  Danny Boy was a minor nuclear test—equivalent to only 400 tons of conventional explosive.  And, the device was buried under 110 ft of basalt.  However, it created a crater 214 ft wide by 62 ft deep and the debris cloud traveled past northern Minnesota and into Canada.

The Divine Strake test is not a nuclear test.  But it will be detonated at a site where contamination is known to have occurred.  According to the Defense Nuclear Agency’s DASA-1251, close-in fallout from shots Turk and Coulomb B spread contaminated much of the Nevada Test Site—including Area 16.  Other nuclear tests that may have contributed to close-in fallout include shots Kepler, Galileo, Fizeau and Smoky.  Fallout from these tests included long-lived radioisotopes, and unless the soil at Area 16 was somehow scrubbed, then the radioisotopes are probably still there. 

And if the debris from Divine Strake reaches the same altitude as the cloud from Danny Boy, then the radioisotopes in the soil at Area 16 will likely be transported to other parts of the United States.

Sometime between June 2 and June 23, the military will detonate about 700 tons of high explosive at the Nevada Test Site’s Area 16.  The Department of Energy has published an extensive document discussing this shot.  However, according to this map–from the DOE library and published in August, 2005, it appears that the soil in Area 16 has relatively high concentrations of plutonium. 

The Nevada Test Site is divided into rectangular-shaped areas, with Areas 12 and 15 representing the northeast corner of the NTS.  Interestingly, Area 16–where the shot is scheduled to be detonated–is adjacent to Area 1—both found at the dead center of the NTS.  Just east of Area 1 is Area 3.  According to the map, the center points of Area 3 is only 8 miles east-northeast of Area 16–a walking distance of about two hours.

No aboveground nuclear tests that have been detonated at Area 16, and there was only one burst that took place just a few miles due east at Area 1–the 12-kiloton Tumbler-Snapper Easy (May 7, 1952.)  According to my copy of DASA 1251 the plume from EASY extended due north—and not west toward Area 16.

There were, however, many above-ground tests that took place at Area 3: George, Annie (, Simon, Harry (, Apple 2, Moth, Hornet, Pascal A, Pascal B, Franklin, Coulomb A, Coulomb B, Flzeau and Galileo. 

The smaller devices detonated at Area 3 included: Colfax, Luna, Bernalillo, San Juan, Otero, Valencia, Humbolt, Catron, Rio Arriba and Chaves.

Most of the debris clouds from these shots drifted north and east, but the Coulomb B cloud traveled west, directly over Area 16.  Two other aboveground shots detonated from Area 3 also may have contaminated Area 16: the debris clouds from shots Fizeau and Galileo traveled northwest and may also have contaminated Area 16.

There were, in fact, some nuclear debris clouds that behaved so badly that they probably contaminated much of the entire Nevada Test Site.  Among this group were shot Turk (1955), and shots Kepler and Smoky (1957.)

While many radioisotopes decay to harmless (i.e. non-radioactive isotopes) within a few years, some last a long time.   According to the Hicks Tables several of the fallout components from the shots listed above are still active in appreciable quantities (i.e. >10E-8 microCuries/sq meter.)  Shot Smoky, for example produced radioisotopes Cobalt-60, Strontium-90, Yttrium-90, Cesium-137, and Europium-155 which are still active today.

I have not read DOE’s Divine Strake document yet.  I hope the document includes plans to either contain the still-radioactive debris onsite—or, if the cloud does somehow get offsite, plans and procedures to monitor for the radioisotopes that may spread across several states.

Maybe.  It does seem that the sleep drug makes one do interesting things while asleep, such as: being able to walk, talk, raid the fridge and now, drive recklessly—and then having no memory of it the next day.  This is one twinkie defense that might have a basis in fact.