From Deseret News archives:
Government cancels Divine Strake explosion at Nevada test site
An announcement by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which had planned the controversial non-nuclear blast, said the cancellation was not based on any technical information that showed the test would create harm, but did not say what the reason was.
Instead, the agency "will attempt to develop alternative scientific means for obtaining the important data that this experiment would have provided," says the statement, released Thursday.
The experiment, dubbed "Divine Strake," was planned as a test of the nation's ability to defeat underground facilities that produce and store weapons of mass destruction.
But it prompted a lawsuit and widespread protests from Utah and Nevada politicians, Indian tribes and residents near the Nevada Test Site, who feared it would kick up radioactive material from previous experiments there.
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who received word of the cancellation this morning, credited the large number of public comments from Utahns for playing a role in the Pentagon's decision.
"For me and every other Utahn, we're jubilant," Huntsman said. "This should be a message loud and clear that the system does work."
In response to federal open houses where no public comment was taken, the governor sponsored a series of public hearings on the test. He said he also had a meeting with Defense Department officials Friday on the test.
"I'm guessing they didn't want to stare us down," he said, tongue in cheek."
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, hailed the decision in e-mails to the Deseret Morning News. They had vigorously opposed the test.
"I couldn't be more relieved," said Hatch. "Everybody in Utah can rest easier tonight knowing that the government listened."
Matheson said, "If this announcement truly signals the end of Divine Strake, my hope is that DTRA would instead spend time and money on developing a conventional weapon that would actually be useful to our military in destroying deeply buried terrorist targets."
Contributing: Associated Press and Nicole Warburton
E-mail: bau@desnews.com
