Pentagon plans big explosion at Nevada

The test, dubbed 8220;Divine Strake,8221; is sponsored by Tegnelia8217;s agency and is set to be conducted at the Energy Department8217;s Nevada Test Site in Nye County, about 105 km northwest of Las Vegas. 8220;All explosives, given the right thermal characteristics, will create a cloud that may resemble a mushroom cloud,8221; the Defense Threat Reduction Agency said in a statement.

8220;The dust cloud from Divine Strake may reach an altitude of 3,048 metres and is not expected to be visible off the Nevada Test Site.8221;

Nuclear tests at the site sent mushroom clouds billowing high into the Air and became tourist attractions in the 1950s, but surface tests ended in the early 1960s.

Rep Shelley Berkley, a Nevada Democrat, said she had numerous concerns over the test. 8220;I need to be certain that if we set off huge explosives at the Test Site, there are no potential health or environmental risks to the Nevada public.

8220;Given the level of contamination in areas where nuclear tests were conducted, I have real concerns about the dust and other pollutants that will be released into the air as a result of this explosion,8221; Berkley said in a statement. 8212;Will Dunham