In article ,
Marc Reeve writes:
Ian MacLure wrote:

"Bob Coe" wrote in news:fcQ0d.24167$ni.22295@okepread01:


That's never a good sign...


Given it was apparently close to the PRC border, I cannot imagine
Beijing is very happy if in fact it is a nuke of some sort.
I expect radiation monitoring or Vela satellite data will soon
establish what it was.
I'd say it was another giant economy size accidental detonation
of something like that train earlier this year.

IBM

They're claiming it was an explosives-assisted excavation (read: pour in a
couple thousand gallons of ANFO and ignite) for a new hydroelectric reservoir.

The lack of radiation seems to support this theory.

One would think that if, indeed they were doing that, it would be
better tamped - that's an awful lot of wasted explosive, if you're
throwing that much stuff in the air.

It is the sort of thing that somebody would do if they were, say,
calibrating a test range for a nuclear shot. Or trying to play
propoganda games. (No, it wasn't a well-hidden nuke shot - a nuke has
several ideosyncratic signatures that would be a certain tipoff, and
seismographic detection can be done from anywhere.)
The Chinese certainly aren't happy about this. If the Minimum Leader
had any sense, he'd hunker down & shut up, not set up a nuclear
weapons testing range on the border of my largest opponent.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster