KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las Vegas'Divine Strake' Blast at Nevada Test Site Delayed Indefinitely
The federal government has indefinitely postponed a planned explosion that was expected to generate a mushroom cloud over the Nevada desert.
Officials say the delay will allow more time to answer questions about the blast -- which opponents fear would kick up radioactive fallout left from nuclear weapons tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site (about 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas).
National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Darwin Morgan says the test will be scheduled at a later date, depending on legal action.
The Winnemucca Indian Colony and several Nevada and Utah "downwinders" have filed suit in U-S District Court in Las Vegas to block the non-nuclear blast.
The lawsuit contends the federal government failed to complete required environmental studies before planning to detonate a 700-ton ammonium nitrate and fuel oil bomb.
The federal Defense Threat Reduction Agency has said the explosion would help gather data about penetrating hardened and deeply buried targets.
Critics have called it a surrogate for a low-yield nuclear "bunker-buster" bomb.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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