An upcoming non-nuclear bomb test in Nevada is being given the sort of window dressing that Washington politicians use to describe bad legislation, "Putting lipstick on a pig."
The test blast is called "Divine Strake," words that roughly deify a device (strake) that deflects airflow on an aircraft wing or deflects water on a boat. Presumably, the name is a metaphor for developing a godly bomb that would deflect enemies.
Beyond questioning whether the U.S. arsenal needs another new weapon with catastrophic explosive power, critics of the Nevada Test Site wisely wonder whether 700 pounds of ammonium nitrate fuel oil emulsion that would simulate a nuclear blast will kick up radioactive dust that will be carried by winds aloft and sprinkled on Idaho and other areas.
Test officials admit the blast, if and when carried out, will result in a dust-filled mushroom cloud soaring 10,000 feet. With the Nevada test area already contaminated from dozens of nuclear explosions, it taxes the imagination to believe none of that debris will be in the mushroom cloud as it dissipates while drifting in the winds.
Residents of states downwind from the Nevada test areas in the 1950s suffered health effects, some fatal, from nuclear fallout, and have been settling lawsuits with the government for years.
Unlike many earlier tests that were not announced and the public given no say-so, an informational meeting will be held on "Divine Strake" in Boise on Sunday, Jan. 28, at the Grove Hotel from noon to 2:30 p.m. Two federal agencies coordinating the test will make presentations. Concerned citizens should make every effort to take it in.
Our own reservations involve a longer view than the test. As western states downwind from the test site grow rapidly with larger urban populations in the 21st century, the government needs an alternative to test facilities that were designated 60 years ago in World War II when the area was considered remote.
With computers now designing virtually every new product, including bombs, it's understandable that they need testing before being used in the field. But any testing that endangers the health of the very men, women and children the bombs are designed to protect must be questioned and the danger minimized or eliminated.
