Smashing atoms, but making connections

A good two-day excursion to Albuquerque and southern New Mexico on Friday (2) and Saturday (3) to take part in the 'official' tour of the Trinity site southeast of Socorro on the White Sands Missile Range, organized and led by docents from the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History.
On Friday, I had a chat with Leslie Kryder who is about to defend her Masters' work on the Lower Rio Grande adjudication and her role in organizing some workshops to help people navigate the upcoming legal waters to their water rights secured. As a member of a new crop of water resources experts, she's faced with either consulting, working at some point for the State Engineer, or finding some new path. And we'll both probably be at the next Water Assembly in late october in Albuquerque, which has one of the most scattered titled themes I've ever seen for such a gathering, but it should be a great venue to connect with other hydrogeeks.

The Trinity tour was interesting - it was worth doing, at least once, as part of a larger group but not for the reasons I expected. We left early from the CostCo parking lot across from the museum on Eubank, and drove the 2+ hours to the entrance of the White Sands missile range, where we got quickly ID sniffed by security, then cleared to go to Ground Zero. What an interesting mix and range of folks. Watching the nuclear tourists move around the Ground Zero dark lava-rock national historic marker was like watching Muslims move around the Black Stone of Mecca, a new form of secular-national tourism testifying to the fact that most Americans are aware of how important the site and event are, even if those reasons are somehow difficult to imagine or explain (see photo). A mix of the Carnivalesque, Boy Scouts, bomb-lovers, international visitors, and old Navajo vets all made their way quietly around the grounds....some clearly immersed in the solemness of the site, others hoping to "steal government property" by finding loose bits of Trinitite (see photo), the fused glassy substance created on July 16, 1945. While still emitting some beta rays, the substance represents the 'friendly' curio side of the Cold War left-overs that are proving so difficult to manage, even in this renewed era of uranium mining. And hopefully this can connect with my own home program's efforts to understand the health dimensions of such activities.

A "bonus" round, as part of this formal tour thrown twice a year, was visiting the EMRTC to witness and hear about their research on...well...blowing stuff up. Grapefruit maiming, table explosions, and watching the power of fertilizer + diesel were all on display and much of it was impressive. The place has transformed the southern and western slope of Socorro Peak into a play-field for boys with toys, with controlled explosions and bits of tanks and heavy equipment sprinkled liberally around the landscape.
So, it will be nice to be back to water this week, after a few strange days...let's see what comes next!