Evening star., 1952-02-21
Eniwetok Again

Inc IacC tnaC new atomic tests are to be
held at Eniwetok Atoll justifes the assumption
that important additional progress has been
made in our A-weapons program. Further than
that, 1t strongly suggests that the progress is
OF type that cannot be safely or effectively
tried out at the proving grounds in Nevada.
This may be taken for granted on the basis
OF past official explanations that it is much
more economical and convenient to use the
Nevada site whenever the nature OF the testing
makes that possible. On the other hand,
Eniwetok in the far Pacific is used only when
the experimentation has to be staged out there
either for reasons of safety or because the char
acter of the weapons requires that the proving
process take place on the aton itself or in the
surrounding ocean area.
Accordingly, If the safety factor is primarily
responsible for the decision to hold the new
tests at Eniwetok instead Of in Nevada, there
IS plausibility in this speculation: That the
things to be tried out are significantly related
to the portentous effort now being made to pro-
duce hydrogen bomb, which theoretically could
be at least 1000 times as devastating as the
crude but terribly devastating atomic bomb
that smashed Hiroshima with an explosive force
equivalent to 10000 tons of TINT.
In any case-again assuming that safety
considerations have dictated the choice of the
Eniwetok site-it is not unreasonable to suppose
that the forthcoming tests will involve explo-
sions of force unusual even for A-weapons.
What makes such speculation plausible is the
fact that at the same place last year, in Opera
ton Greenhouse" experts set off nuclear deto-
nations officially described as several times
more powerful" than those that shattered Hiro-
shima and Nagasaki. Moreover according to
the Atomic Energy Commission. the detonations
definitely contributed" to thermonuclear re-
search-which is research aimed at promoting
progress toward the hydrogen bomb.
It may well be, of course, that the projected
tests will have no major bearing on the develop
ment of the H-bomb and that the Enwetok site
has been chosen for reasons other than safety.
But even in that case we can be reasonably
sure that the experimentation will have to do
with significant advances in the field of A-weap-
ons. Thus, the undertaking may involve the
firing of atomic guided missiles or a tryout of
carrier-based atomic-attack planes or an UNDER
sea launching Of torpedoes with atomic war
heads.
All these things, and more besides, are possi-
biities. Indeed, there is reason to believe that
some of them may be actualities-not simply
possibilities or even probabilities, but weapons
already at hand. weapons that may be available
I in quantity much sooner than has been gener-
! ally supposed The mere fact that additional
tests are to take place at Eniwetok-and in
Nevada as Wells in itself measure of the
Nations continuing progress along this line for
such tests are held only when they seem justi-
fled by the advances made at places like Los
Alamos.
In this connection, it is not without point
to note that the United States has set of many
more atomic tests than has the Soviet Union.
At any rate, up to now, our own authorities
who are equipped to keep pretty good count
have announced the detection of only three
Russian nuclear detonations. The disparity sug-
gests that our country is still well ahead in the
race, and although the race itself is very grim,
that is reassuring thing to know in the kind
of world we have.