This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Correction: A story Monday incorrectly said President Clinton ended nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site. It was President George H.W. Bush who issued the moratorium in 1992. In 1996, Clinton signed the test ban treaty, which was not ratified by the Senate.

WASHINGTON - For four decades, the Nevada Test Site was ground zero for hundreds of nuclear weapons tests.

Then in 1992, the United States conducted its last atomic weapons test at the outdoor lab, leaving the tightly guarded installation the size of Rhode Island in a bit of limbo.

Although the bombs have gone silent, the Bush administration has left the door open to a return to testing, pushing a more aggressive nuclear posture and seeking money to cut the time it would take to begin testing at the site.

A large public outcry from residents in Utah, Nevada and Idaho forced the Defense Department two weeks ago to cancel its proposed Divine Strake test - a huge blast of 700 tons of conventional explosives - and raised the question of whether the public could ever stomach renewed nuclear tests at the site.

"If you look at [Divine Strake] as a litmus test for how comfortable the public is with the idea of renewed nuclear testing, well, the answer is crystal clear: Don't even think about it," said Vanessa Pierce, executive director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah. "Utahns are unwilling to consider allowing anything that brings us even one step closer to the days of nuclear blasts."

But some, including Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, whose father died of cancer as a result of radioactive fallout from the Cold War nuclear tests, fear that is the direction the Bush administration is headed.

On Friday, the National Nuclear Security Administration announced its new design for the "Reliable Replacement Warhead," the next generation U.S. atomic weapon. Matheson questions the rationale for the new weapon, and how it can be built without being tested.

"I think we're going down the path of new nuclear weapons, which takes us down the path to new nuclear weapons testing," Matheson said.

Between 1951 and 1992, when the United States ceased testing, a total of 925 atomic tests were conducted at the Nevada Test Site, 825 of them underground. President George H.W. Bush issued a moratorium on testing, and in 1996 President Clinton signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, although it was never ratified by the Senate.

Since then, the test site has been used for hazardous chemical testing, emergency response training and conventional weapons testing. The National Nuclear Security Administration has put in place an extensive program designed to maintain atomic weapons without relying on full-scale testing.

In 2001, the Bush administration also issued a new Nuclear Posture Review that envisioned a significant shift in U.S. weapons policy, moving from the Cold War-era strategy of deterring enemy strikes to a position of using tactical nuclear weapons to defeat fortified enemy positions.

And the president has repeatedly asked Congress to approve funding that would allow the Nevada Test Site to resume testing within 18 months. The time it would take to restart a testing program already has been cut from three years to two.

Congress balked at funding the request, since the administration insists new nuclear tests are not necessary.

The approved Reliable Replacement Warhead design was patterned after a weapon that had been tested in the past, and the National Nuclear Security Administration reiterated Friday that new testing won't be needed.

Downwinders, suffering from cancer as a result of their exposure to fallout from the Cold War atomic tests, remain concerned.

"Let's not kid ourselves. The threat is there and until that threat is lifted, we've said what we've said all along: 'You are not going to create another generation of us,' '' said J. Preston Truman, founder and director of the group Downwinders.

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. also opposes any move to renew testing.

"I think it's a terrible idea and I hope it's never resumed," he said.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, says that, especially in the current Congress, there is no appetite for new nuclear tests.

Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons expert at the Federation of American Scientists, said the public's opposition to Divine Strake was surprising, and it's fair to assume there would be considerable resistance to any future nuclear tests.

"In one way, politically, it has certainly made it a very tough sell," he said. "On the other hand, it all depends on the situation. I think people locally would be opposed to it . . . but that's not necessarily what drives a decision, and if the nation decides it was necessary because of a serious reliability issue, I think, opposition or not, it would happen."

That's why Matheson says he plans to keep pressing the issue.

"To assume the door is shut and the potential just isn't there anymore, I can't assume that," he said. "I think we have to remain ever-vigilant."