See Icecap Tower, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

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This is the tower for the Icecap underground nuclear weapon test, which was one of the last tests scheduled at the Nevada Test Site. The tower has been standing at the site since 1992, when Clinton signed a moratorium on nuclear testing. Inside the tower hangs a huge metal pipe, filled with fibre optic cables. At the bottom of the pipe is a cavity in which scientists would have placed the bomb. Workers on the Icecap project drilled a deep shaft directly below the pipe. Before the test, the pipe would have been lowered into the shaft, which would have been packed with gravel and dirt to help contain the huge, multi-megaton explosion. At the time of the explosion, light from the detonation would travel up the fibreoptic cables, which would come out of the ground and run to trucks some distance away. The light would be captured by analytical equipment used to generate test results from the blast. The shockwave and heat from the blast would follow the light just milleseconds later, destroying everything in its path.

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