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Vandenberg Air Force Base is usually a place known for its rockets, missiles and space program, but there is also another little known unit dedicated to diffusing bombs and disposing of explosive devices. The 30th Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Flight, part of the 30th Civil Engineering Squadron, not only trains on the base, but also keeps very busy disposing of the regularly found unexploded ordnance (UXO) which remains on base property from its days as an Army tank corps training camp.

A new, $64 million study of earthquake fault patterns around the San Onofre nuclear plant will be proposed Friday by Southern California Edison, its scope broadened and its cost estimate more than doubled because of the nuclear disaster in Japan. Edison will propose the study to the California Energy Commission; if approved, it would be paid for through customer rates, although Edison says that would add up to less than one percent of present overall rates. ADVERTISEMENT More from Science Rocket launched from Vandenberg Sunnier skies kick off warming spell Toxic mystery unfolds in Newport Beach The study will use state-of-the-art technology, characterizing in three dimensional detail the sea floor near the coastal plant and the geological picture beneath the land surface. Edison is still evaluating what type of technology to use, but sonar would likely be used to map the ocean floor near the nuclear plant, while seismic vibration measurements as well as lidar, which uses light beamed from planes, would be used on land.