US conducts limited nuclear test
Source: Agence France-Presse
US conducts limited nuclear test
AFP | Dec 7, 2012, 02.10 PM IST
WASHINGTON: The United States said Thursday it has conducted a "subcritical" nuclear test at an underground site to study the behavior of nuclear materials without triggering an atomic explosion.
The test, conducted Wednesday in Nevada, aims to gather scientific data that will "provide crucial information to maintain the safety and effectiveness of the nation's nuclear weapons," the Energy Department said in a statement.
Such tests "ensure that we can support a safe, secure and effective stockpile without having to conduct underground testing," said National Nuclear Security Administration head Thomas D'Agostino.
Staff from the Nevada National Security Site, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories conducted the experiment, known as Pollux.
Read more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-conducts-limited-nuclear-test/articleshow/17519152.cms
lib2DaBone
(8,124 posts)We test..while we point fingers and saber-rattle at Iran...?
ChairmanAgnostic
(28,017 posts)2. It's secret. Our government doesn't want foreigners to find out.
3. It's secret. Our government doesn't want its citizens to find out.
4. It does not involve a blonde bimbo missing after a pre marital bash with her sorority friends at the Big Banana.
5. Did you hear about Susan Rice and Libya?
6. Rush thinks Obama wants to destroy America. That's news!
7. Obama exploded the deficit and unemployment is at an all time high!
8. Obama timed Sandy for election purposes, while he kidnapped the real Chris Christie and replaced him with Dave Axelrod wearing a fat man suit.
9. Obama hates America.
10. It didn't really blow up, so it is not news.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)And right after we had the report this morning about uranium in Hawaiian folk's urine? Wait and see if all this shows up in the Guardian, I guess.
fasttense
(17,301 posts)stockpiles nuclear material. We are the world's dumping ground for nuclear waste. So, they are just testing to see how much of the crap we can shove under the ground. Because if you read what they say, it makes no sense.
They are conducting nuclear underground tests to "ensure that we can support a safe, secure and effective stockpile without having to conduct underground testing."
KoKo
(84,711 posts)just to make sure their stockpiles were safe..
jwirr
(39,215 posts)third world countries and storing them on their own soil. That is what the Obama administration has been doing since the beginning. I remember the time they were collecting it in the middle of a huge earthquake in Chili. We need to know how to safely store this stuff and our own nuclear materials. The only way we find out how to do that is research. I will reserve judgment until I know this was testing for other reasons.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)which then ship it to France and France Processes it and it comes back here for the parts that can be "reused by reprosess" and then it goes for "storage" with some coming back to Savannah River Plant for use.
Does this sound bizarre? It does to me...but, then...I'm just reading this stuff!
jwirr
(39,215 posts)around a dangerous substance without ever thinking about the end results. I think we do a lot of that.
hunter
(38,317 posts)Our military leaders want to see how well the cores of our nuclear weapons are holding up, to reassure themselves old bombs still work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium
If the density and geometry of the plutonium core has changed too much since the bomb was manufactured then the bomb fails; instead of incinerating everything for miles around it simply contaminates the area with radioactive waste. The bomb scientists conducting these tests are trying to figure out how much spontaneous recrystallization of these plutonium bomb cores is acceptable so they can develop timetables for refurbishing or remanufacturing bombs.
Too bad we don't simply dismantle all the bombs and use them to make nuclear fuel for electric power plants. So long as this weapons grade plutonium exists (and there are hundreds of tons of it) somebody will be making bombs.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)one way or the other, imho.
Thanks...