An atom bomb detonated underground would leave a radioactive crater which would be dangerous indefinitely, and the "hot" dust blown into the air might paint a broad band of silent death many miles downwind. The only safe way to simulate such an explosion is to use a "low-order" chemical explosive and scale up its effects theoretically to full atomic proportions. Last week at desolate Buckhorn Wash, Utah, Army engineers came the closest yet to simulating an atomic blast.
Into a spherical cavity 18 ft. in diameter, carved deep in solid sandstone, the engineers packed 320,000 pounds of TNT, cast in close-fitting blocks....
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