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Article: Buried suns: the past and possible future of America's nuclear-testing program.(LETTER FROM NEVADA)
- Article from:
- Harper's Magazine
- Article date:
- June 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Harper's Magazine Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Tree hundred and twenty feet deep and nearly a quarter of a mile wide, the Sedan Crater still radiates energy from the explosion of a 104-kiloton nuclear bomb on July 6, 1962. One of ninety-eight nuclear devices exploded that year, the Sedan "shot" was detonated 635 feet beneath the surface of the Nevada desert. In less than thirteen seconds, the earth was emptied of 6.5 million cubic yards of sand and rock, some of which was lofted up into the atmosphere to return later as dust and rain, and the remainder of which was driven down into the earth or simply vaporized.
The Sedan Crater is perhaps the only place in the world where it is possible for a layman to ...