Not So Divine After All?

Remember Divine Strake a.k.a. "strakes on a plain"? Well, forget it. At least for this year.
Palm Springs KESQ reports that the planned massive explosion at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) has been put off till 2007, at the earliest.
Divine Strake, recall, was supposed to consist of 700 tons many, many trucks worth of ammonium nitrate/fuel oil emplaced in a shallow pit. The test did not represent an operationally realistic conventional weapon (700 tons!!! of explosives!). Rather, it was intended to simulate the effect of a very low-yield (under 600 ton) nuclear weapon on underground structures.
It is still unclear what the reasons for the delay are. The report from KESQ hints, though, that the issue may involve disputes over Western Shoshone tribal claims to NTS lands, as well as concerns that the explosion might stir up contaminated soil and send radioactive material downwind.
I guess Samuel Jackson got his way this time....
- Haninah Levine