ATOMIC BOMB TEST

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 142, 29 March 1948, Page 3

ATOMIC BOMB TEST

PREPARATIONS IN HAND

Many Answers Sought

(N.Z.P.A.—Copyrigbt)

WASHINGTON, March 27

Informed sources believe that plans have been completed for Test (Atomic Bomb) Six at Eniwetok, says the United Press.

One source said it was possible that the test has already been carried out, .but others thought it still weeks away. It is thought that the test will be an underwater one at an intermediate depth, which is anywhere from 2000 feet to a mile below the surface. The conjecture is that modern German submarines may be used as guinea' pigs, as the Navy, knowing that Russia has some 250 of these craft, wants to know what kind of force it would take to sink them. TJhe- tests, which will be closed to all but American military officials and the Atomic Energy and Congressional Atomic Committees, are expected to supply many answers that military officials failed to get from bombs four and five at Bikini in 194 G.

The correspondent of the United Press at Kwajalein, in the Marshall Islands, says that Kwajalein, which is the gateway to the atomic*, tests at Eniketok, 400 miles to the south, and a stopping point for Army, Navy and transport planes crossing the Pacific, is the hottest security problem the United States has. Counter - intelligence interviews every passenger, even if he is only stretching his legs while the plane refuels, and warns him that the Atomic Energy Act provides death for anyone betraying the atomic secret. Bomb Production Problems Even if America and Britain placed at the disposal of Russia blueprints and all other information for making atom bombs, it would be at least five years before Russia could produce such bombs, and it would be many years before she could produce sufficient bombs successfully ,to wage a war, said Professor M. L. Oliphant, the world famous atomic scientist, in a broadcast at Sydney. America* alone, he said, possessed the necessary equipment to produce atom bombs and it would take even her several years to produce enough to engage in war. To those who suggested that the Western nations might wage a preventive war and drop atom bombs on Russia, Professor Oliphant said they were not facing realities. Experience had shown that fighter aircraft, radar and other modern equipment could easily defeat the bomber, so that it would be impossible for bombers of the Western nations equipped with atom bombs to penetrate to Moscow or other large Russian cities. Professor Oliphant expressed the opinion that if the Western Powers avoided hysteria, but remained firm, a way could be found out of the present impasse. *' Dealing with the peacetime use of atomic energy, Professor Oliphant said it would-be at least five years before atomic energy could be harnessed even in a small way, and 25 years before it could be generally used.