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Scientists conduct subcritical nuclear experiment in Nevada
Associated Press | September 19, 2003

Posted on 09/19/2003 9:40:31 PM PDT by HAL9000

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Government scientists conducted an underground nuclear materials experiment Friday at the Nevada Test Site, the National Nuclear Security Administration said.

The subcritical experiment, dubbed Piano, involved detonating high explosives to chart the behavior of plutonium in a non-nuclear explosion. It did not trigger a self-sustaining nuclear reaction, NNSA spokesman Kevin Rohrer said.

Scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California completed the test at 1:44 p.m. in a cavern 960 feet below ground, Rohrer said. No abnormalities and no surface damage were reported at the vast site, about 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Federal officials say subcritical experiments are essential to maintaining the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Piano was the 20th subcritical experiment since the program began in 1997. The most recent one was called Rocco, conducted on Sept. 26, 2002.

Anti-nuclear groups have criticized subcritical experiments as contrary to the spirit of the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on nuclear arms. The experiments technically do not violate the treaty because no critical mass is formed and there is no full-scale nuclear explosion.

The Bush administration said last year it wants the Nevada Test Site to be prepared to resume full-scale nuclear tests within 18 months - about half the time it would take to prepare for such experiments today.



TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; US: Nevada
KEYWORDS: ctbt; experiment; lasvegas; lawrencelivermore; llnl; napalminthemorning; nevada; nevadatestsite; nnsa; nukelabs; nukes; nuketesting; piano; plutonium; rocco; testbantreaty; testing; wot
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To: quietolong
"Look at the first “ Littleboy “ test. It was first tested in Japan. We knew it would work from subcritical tests. But did not need to waste the small amount of Uranium we had at the time to prove it first in the US. The Uranium that was used in the subcritical tests. Was then made into the first U bomb and shipped to Japan."

On Monday morning July 16, 1945, the world was changed forever when the first atomic bomb was tested in an isolated area of the New Mexico desert. Conducted in the final month of World War II by the top-secret Manhattan Engineer District, this test was code named Trinity.

21 posted on 09/21/2003 8:05:04 PM PDT by blam
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To: blam
Absolutely, but we had two designs. One design was the gun type, and the other design was the implosion type. Trinity tested one, but the other was deemed 100% ready without a test, and so it was first "tested" live in Japan.
22 posted on 09/21/2003 8:24:17 PM PDT by Southack (Media bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: HAL9000
cc: Lil' Kim DPRK
23 posted on 09/21/2003 8:30:48 PM PDT by StriperSniper (The slippery slope is getting steeper.)
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To: Southack
As I understand it, the Littleboy firing mechanism was a more or less conventional cannon which fired a U-235 plug into a U-235 doughnut at the muzzle. I think the cannon design was given to Naval Ordnance engineers who at first were trying to devise a trap of some kind to "catch" the plug if the shot fizzled. They had to be assured by Oppie's boys that they didn't need to worry about that at all.
24 posted on 09/21/2003 8:36:10 PM PDT by 19th LA Inf
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To: blam
What Southack said.
The Trinity test was the Fatman type.


Some good books to read on it:

“Genius “ The Life and Science of Richard Feynman
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679747044/ref=lib_dp_TFCV/103-2440853-1363069?v=glance&s=books&vi=reader#reader-link

“Dark sun” Making of the H bomb
And
Making of the Atomic bomb
Richard Rhodes

Info on this thread
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/622675/posts?page=52#52
25 posted on 09/21/2003 10:29:12 PM PDT by quietolong
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To: Southack
It means: Our current computer models aren't sufficient, New atomic weapon designs are being studied, And full scale atomic weapons useage is being contemplated.

Excellent. I always thought the computer simulation was a load of happy horsesh*t.

26 posted on 09/22/2003 8:21:44 AM PDT by AdamSelene235 (Like all the jolly good fellows, I drink my whiskey clear....)
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To: Bear_in_RoseBear; Crowcreek

>> What the heck is this all about?

> Testing a radiological ("dirty") bomb?

Yeah, that's it.


27 posted on 11/01/2004 7:51:22 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("All I have seen teaches me trust the Creator for all I have not seen." -- Emerson)
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To: Southack
Quite agree. There's almost no one in the United States who has participated in the design of an atomic warhead, because it has been quite a while. Dozens of countries are working on such programs, mostly in secret (as secretly as they can manage), because they can see Pakistan solicited as an ally of the US, and see North Korea, an enemy, doing what it wants (for now). Something like this will not make them fill their pants, but take a good long look at what they're doing.
28 posted on 11/01/2004 7:55:44 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("All I have seen teaches me trust the Creator for all I have not seen." -- Emerson)
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