Year’s First Nuclear Test Scheduled
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LAS VEGAS — The first U.S. nuclear weapons test of the year is scheduled to be detonated Wednesday under the watchful eye of Russian scientists.
The blast, classified among the biggest allowed under treaties, will be set off Wednesday morning 2,100 feet beneath the surface of the Nevada Test Site, said Department of Energy spokesman Jim Boyer.
A group of 23 Russian scientists and officials will monitor the test as part of an agreement signed in 1990 for scientists of the former Soviet Union and the United States to monitor certain nuclear tests conducted by the respective countries.
The explosion is scheduled to be detonated at 8:30 a.m. in a shaft beneath Pahute Mesa, about 110 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Because of the size of the explosion, Boyer said it is possible it will be felt in Las Vegas. Operators of high-rise buildings were warned not to have workers in precarious positions at the time of the blast.
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