Nuclear verification test at Nevada National Security Site called success
Government scientists successfully conducted a nuclear arms verification experiment last Thursday at the Nevada National Security Site, officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration said Tuesday.
Darwin Morgan, a spokesman for the security site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, said the scientists detonated a chemical explosive in a borehole in granite to send seismic signals that were detected by sensitive equipment on and off the former Nevada Test Site.
The experiment “is a fundamental step forward in the U.S. effort to improve arms control verification, and will eventually be used to assure compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,” according to an agency news release.
Scientists and staff from three national laboratories in New Mexico and California; the University of Nevada, Reno; and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency participated in the experiment called Source Physics Experiment-4 Prime.
The chemical explosive that was set off in a granite formation 286 feet below the surface released an energetic yield equivalent to detonating 196 pounds of TNT.
The experiment “serves to advance the implementation of President Obama’s nuclear nonproliferation agenda,” said Anne Harrington, a deputy administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration, an agency within the Department of Energy for enhancing national security through military applications of nuclear science.
Morgan said the experiment was conducted in Area 15, in the northeast corner of the Nevada National Security Site. It was the the fourth in a series conducted since 2011.
Contact Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308. Find him on Twitter: @KeithRogers2.
