Michael Berry wrote to a Pentagon official last week for the answer to a question that's had many Utahns scratching their heads since they first heard about "Divine Strake," the massive test explosion the federal government wants to detonate in the Nevada desert.
    What does the name mean, exactly? And what's holy about using 700 tons of non-nuclear explosives to blow up an old tunnel in the middle of nowhere?
    After his e-mail dialogue Friday with the public affairs department of the Defense Threat Agency, the government office behind the blast, the Salt Lake City man divined the answer.
    The name is nonsense.
    Sure, "divine" means "godlike." And the word "strake" refers to an architectural feature of boats and aircraft. But the term is just two words tacked together to meet the criteria of a military regulation, and they have no deeper meaning.
    At first, it made him chuckle. Later, he thought about the government dreaming up nonsense names.
    "Then, you think, if they're doing that at that level, then what else might be going on?"
    Berry says he plans to be among the Utahns headed to public information sessions this week hosted by the Pentagon agency and the National Nuclear Security Administration, an arm of the U.S. Energy Department, in Salt Lake City, St. George and Las Vegas. And, like many Utahns, he opposes the test, despite the federal government's assurances the huge explosion won't harm anyone outside the Nevada Test Site boundaries.
    Many Divine Strake critics worry that dirt contaminated with leftovers from the government's decades-long atomic testing program will shoot up to 10,000 feet into the sky and drift to Utah and other states if the test is allowed to go forward. They also fear the resumption of nuclear weapons tests in Nevada, like ones many blame for Downwinder illnesses such as thyroid disease and cancer. Divine Strake, it turns out, follows a long tradition of absurd monikers for Nevada Test Site experiments.
    The Energy Department's system for code-naming weapons tests evolved after military planners found their initial plan got repetitive fast, with five "Able" tests, four "Bakers" and three "Clean Slates."
    So, the Pentagon began giving each year an operation name, such as "Quicksilver" or "Musketeer" and invited scientists at the national laboratories to name individual tests, according the Energy Department.
    The labs would offer the Pentagon names according to a theme of the year, and the White House would make the ultimate decision. Cocktails, cheese, stinging insects, trees, fish, Nevada ghost towns and New Mexico counties all became code names.
    At the same time, it's clear that there are broader and deeper meanings in some Pentagon-generated names, like the recent "Desert Shield," "Desert Storm" or "Iraqi Freedom."
    But not these tests, said Darwin Morgan, who works for the Energy Department at the Nevada Test Site.
    "They are arbitrary," he said, "and that's just the way it works."
    Incidentally, Morgan doesn't know anyone else whose two names have been used for Test Site detonations. "Morgan" was used in a year of horse-breed names, and "Darwin" in a year when tests were named after famous scientists.
    "Don't know what it means, but . . . "
    fahys@sltrib.com
   
Bomb test names

    The 928 atomic weapons experiments at the Nevada Test Site had names, most of which signified nothing. You can see a complete list in this Energy Department report: www.nv.doe.gov/library/publications/historical/DOENV_209_REV15.pdf , but here's a short list with the dates when they were carried out:
    * Plants: Beebalm 05/01/1970; Mint Leaf 05/05/1970; Delphinium 09/26/1972l; Canna 11/17/1972; Flax 12/21/1972; Portulaca 06/28/1973
    * Cheeses: Edam 04/24/1975; Stilton 06/03/1975; Colby 03/14/1976; Fontina 02/12/1976; Camembert 06/26/1975; Havarti 08/05/1981; Jarlsberg 08/27/1983; Brie 06/18/1987
    * Nautical: Bulkhead 04/27/1977; Strake 08/04/1977; Topmast 03/23/1978; Ebbtide 09/15/1977; Transom 05/10/1978
    * Semi-Precious Stones: Turquoise 04/14/1983; Carnelian 07/28/1977; Rhyolite 06/22/1988; Mini Jade 05/26/1983
    * Texas Cities: Waco 12/01/1987; Laredo 05/21/1988; Abilene 04/07/1988; Alamo 07/07/1988; Midland 07/16/1987; Austin 06/21/1990; Houston 11/14/1990
    * Fish: Mackerel 02/18/1964; Pike 3/13/1964; Salmon 10/22/1964; Sturgeon 04/15/1964; Swordfish 05/11/1962; Bonefish 02/18/1964; Sardine 12/04/1963
    * Board Games: Backgammon 11/29/1979; Baccarat 01/24/1979; Chess 06/20/1979; Rummy 09/27/1978
Public meetings

    * Today, 6:30-9 p.m., Grand America Hotel, 555 S. Main St., Salt Lake City
    * Thursday, 6:30-9 p.m., Dixie Center, 1835 Convention Center Drive, St. George

   Location changed for Divine Strake hearing
   
   The location has been changed for today's public information meeting in Salt Lake City on the proposed huge experimental explosion at the Nevada Test Site called Divine Strake.
    The meeting will be held at the Grand America Hotel, 555 S. Main St., from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Previously, the meeting had been scheduled for the EnergySolutions Arena.

* (Posted for educational and research purposes only, in accordance 
     with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107) *