NATION : A-Test Held Despite Protesters
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LAS VEGAS — A British nuclear weapon was detonated in the Nevada desert today after the test was delayed by four protesters who infiltrated the remote desert site and by what an official said were technical problems.
“The controllers are showing signs of relief that it’s over,” Energy Department spokesman Jim Boyer said after the detonation at 11:17 a.m.
Four protesters, three British women and a man from Colorado, were arrested and taken to a base camp at Mercury, Nev., after they were sighted near ground zero just minutes before the device was to be detonated. The detonation had been set for 9 a.m., then delayed several times over what Boyer described as technical difficulties.
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