Science: Nevada’s Big Blast

Far below the Nevada desert last week, the AEC tested a one-megaton hydrogen device, the largest ever exploded in the U.S. Despite earlier protests from scientists, labor leaders and Howard Hughes, who had feared earthquakes, major property damage and vented radiation, the blast produced only a harmless ground shock and a rock-filled underground cavity similar to that created by the AEC’s Project Gas-buggy (TIME, Dec. 22).