But Neptunium-237, another product of nuclear tests, has a half-life of more than 2 million years, McGee said. Nuclear experts he consulted "are rather sure" it remains at the Test Site. When lab animals breathed it, they had a high rate of lung cancer. When they ate it, "the isotope was concentrated in bones and bone cancer resulted," he said.

David Shorten, who lives in the 3rd Congressional District, said he supports Divine Strake as "a stalking horse for a tactical nuclear weapon" that may be needed. "There is a mean, nasty world out there," he said.

But Salt Lake City resident Mary Dickson, a downwinder who has survived thyroid cancer, spoke out against the test: "No more mushroom clouds, nuclear or not."

Pete Ashdown, a Salt Lake businessman and unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate, thanked Huntsman for the opportunity "to speak without getting arrested."

But if Divine Strake is to be set off, Ashdown said, he will be arrested. "And I challenge Gov. Huntsman to join me and thousand of Utahns to walk out on that range" to stop the test.

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E-mail: bau@desnews.com