European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 17, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                 i  _ act. We or Sam i .,.1, re  Khz Var Var tin i no a Crew been created by nuclear explosion underground at the Tost Range of Yucca Mot Nev Remote control Point data recording station technology adv by William j. Broad new York Olmos s scientists Yucca nil. Nov. A of acquiring new skills find achieving new us Cufis jes Inge is Sirg the Loco and characteristics Oln Clear blasts deep beneath he desert Evenas Debill euros around the world Over the Wisdom of such experiments. We re in Iho mid of a Renaissance n period of growth in the Quality and sophistication of our work said Lawrence j. Ferderber. An of tibial Al the Lawrence Livemore National Laboratory. The liver Mosc Tab in California is one of iwo National Lac lilies thai Doslyn nuclear weapons and detonate them a the nation s nuclear test Sile a desolate expanse of Nevada desert at Yucca pint thai is bigger than the slate of Rhode Island. American Sci enlists have exploded Al least nine nuclear weapons since the Sovie Union declared a unilateral moratorium on underground tests in August. After an explosion in Nevada in april. The soviet Union renounced is moratorium which it had asked the United Stales to join. The while House had declined saying nuclear less arc necessary to maintain the reliability of Olej weapons and to develop new ones. Signs of activity abound or Yucca Flat a cratered Plain where most of he Nalion s nuclear tests take place. Huge ducks lumber Ninny Lony Causly roads lights lashing Alop Trio in cabs. Drilling rigs Dot the Valley floor Boring hots hundreds and thousands of Loet deep into which nuclear waa pow will be do posited and exploded. The scientific Challenge is to learn As much As possible about a nuclear explosion before to rapidly. Expanding fireball destroys the delicate sensors and instruments used to Monitor he fasl. The operation is run by the . Department of Energy which employs  Popple at the Nevada Sile. And spends More than $1 billion a year to test nuclear weapons. The Energy department announces about t5 tests there each year up from eight or Rene in the Early 1970s. Bui even More tests occur Ihan Are announced. In 19b2 lie Reagan administration renounced a i longstanding disclosure policy and started keeping sea f i tests secret. .1 despite is Bustle the test site is ruggedly simple. Mesquite Yucca end Joshua frees i halve in the arid climate and mountains dominate is horizon. In places. The desert comes alive with the color of Spring Lowers. It s nol unusual to see a Herd of horses said Chris l. West a lanky bearded test site spokesman who wears faded jeans and cot boy boots. It is also not unusual 10 see armed guards roaming the Sile. Their standing orders being to shoot to kill ii someone iries to steal a nuclear weapon. Secret signals and Complex procedures especially in he arming of weapons Are constancy used by Lesl Sile personnel in an Edorlia Deler and foil terrorists. Preparations for a nuclear eat take about a year and can involve hundreds of engineers scientists Lech leans and guards. The Lirosi step is to Drill the deep vortical Hole usually eight or nine toot in diameter. Then a portable building known As a bogey lower is placed near us top offering Protection from tote weather and soviet spy satellites. Inside the Tower he test equipment is assembled the weapon Al the Bottom. No i to it is a Large tubular diagnostic canister often so feel Long and weighing 200 ions that holds the specs Otoscopes and other sensitive