New Tests at Las Vegas

With its customary air of guarded caution, the Atomic Energy Commission last week announced that it would begin a new series of tests "in the near future" at the Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range in Nevada. The site is now on "permanent" status, said the AEC, and will be used for both atomic and ordinary explosives. Only a few official observers will see the first of the new tests, but newsmen and civil-defense leaders may be invited to a "subsequent test operation."

Although the AEC was careful to give no dates and spoke only in the broadest of terms, the announcement set off a wave of speculation. Did the plans to experiment with conventional weapons as well as atomic blasts mean that the AEC is planning to test atomic artillery? The AEC's answer: no comment.

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