No more mushroom clouds, nuclear or not!

HEAL Utah, downwinders, and other concerned groups called upon Governor Huntsman to do what the federal government failed to do--hold real, meaningful hearings about Divine Strake. He has given Utahns a podium, a microphone and a real forum to voice our concerns. The Governor's Hearing will be January 24th, at 5:30 pm in room 135 of the Utah State Capitol. He will also hold a hearing on January 18th at 5:00 pm in the Dunford Auditorium, Browning Building, Dixie State College, St. George.

The federal government had promised public hearings on Divine Strake in Nevada, Utah and Idaho. Instead, poster sessions were scheduled only in Las Vegas, St. George and Salt Lake City.

True to expectations, the "Public Information Meeting" on Wednesday January 24th was a dog-and-pony show. See the news stories for a description of the event--including how one man was silenced!

According to Defense Department budget documents, the Divine Strake test is designed to identify the smallest proper nuclear yield necessary to destroy underground targets. Though the Defense Department now claims that there are no nuclear applications for the test, critics maintain that information from the blast will aid in the design of new nuclear weapons.

The blast, which is predicted to create a 10,000 foot mushroom cloud, could disperse long-lived radionuclides at the Nevada Test Site, putting Utahns and other civilian populations down-wind once again. We fear the test will lead to the development of new nuclear weapons and resumed nuclear testing at the test site.

The blast from this detonation will be 50 times larger than the largest conventional weapon in the U.S. arsenal, and will have a yield of .6 kilotons – corresponding to the lowest yield of the B61 nuclear bomb.