Underground nuclear testing
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Underground nuclear testing refers to test detonations of nuclear weapons that are performed underground. Most nuclear tests have historically been performed underground, in order to prevent nuclear fallout from entering into the atmosphere.
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[edit] Background
Although public concern about fallout from nuclear testing grew in the early 1950s,[1][2] fallout was discovered after the Trinity test in 1945.[2] Photographic film manufacturers would later report 'fogged' films, these were traced both to Trinity and later tests at the Nevada Test Site.[2] Intense fallout from the 1953 Simon test was documented as far as Albany, New York.[2]
The fallout from the March 1954 Bravo test in the Pacific would have "scientific, political and social implications that have continued for more than 40 years."[3] The multi-megaton test caused fallout to occur on the islands of Rongerik and Rongelap, and a Japanese fishing boat known as the Lucky Dragon.[3] Prior to this test, there was "insufficient" appreciation of the dangers of fallout.[3]
The test became an international incident. In a PBS interview, the historian Martha Smith argued: "In Japan, it becomes a huge issue in terms of not just the government and its protest against the United States, but all different groups and all different peoples in Japan start to protest. It becomes a big issue in the media. There are all kinds of letters and protests that come from, not surprisingly, Japanese fishermen, the fishermen's wives; there are student groups, all different types of people; the protest against the Americans' use of the Pacific for nuclear testing. They're very concerned about, first of all, why the United States even has the right to be carrying out those kinds of tests in the Pacific. They're also concerned about the health and environmental impact."[4] The Prime Minister of India "voiced the heightened international concern" when he called for the elimination of all nuclear testing worldwide.[1]
Knowledge about fallout and its effects grew, and with it concern about the global environment and long-term genetic damage.[5] Talks between the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and the Soviet Union began in May 1955 on the subject of an international agreement to end nuclear tests.[5] On August 5, 1963, representatives of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty, forbidding testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in space, and underwater.[6] Agreement was facilitated by the decision to allow underground testing, eliminating the need for on-site inspections that concerned the Soviets.[6] Underground testing was allowed, provided that it does not cause "radioactive debris to be present outside the territorial limits of the State under whose jurisdiction or control such explosion is conducted."[5]
[edit] Early history of underground testing
Following analysis of underwater detonations that were part of Operation Crossroads in 1946, inquiries were made regarding the possible military value of an underground explosion.[7] The Joint Chiefs of Staff thus obtained the agreement of the Atomic Energy Commission to perform experiments on both surface and sub-surface detonations.[7] The island of Amchitka was initially selected for these tests in 1950, but the site was later deemed unsuitable and the tests were moved the Nevada Test Site.[8]
The first underground nuclear test was conducted on 29 November 1951.[9][10][11] This was the 1.2 kiloton Buster-Jangle Uncle,[12] detonated 5.2m (17ft) beneath ground level.[10] The test was designed as a scaled-down investigation of the effects of a 23 kiloton ground penetrating gun-type device that was then being considered for use as a cratering and bunker-buster weapon.[13] The explosion resulted in a cloud that rose to 11,500 ft, and deposited fallout to the north and north-northeast.[14] The resulting crater was 260 feet wide and 53 feet deep.[13]
The next underground test was Teapot Ess, on 23 March 1955.[10] The 1 kiloton explosion was an operational test of an atomic demolition munition (ADM).[15] It was detonated 67 feet underground, in a shaft lined with corrugated steel, which was then back-filled with sandbags and dirt.[16] Because the ADM was buried underground, the explosion blew tons of earth upwards,[15] creating a crater 300 feet wide and 128 feet deep.[16] The resulting cloud rose to a height of 12,000 feet and subsequent fallout drifted in an easterly direction, travelling as far as 225 km from ground zero.[15]
On 26 July 1957, Plumbbob Pascal-A was detonated at the bottom of a 485-foot shaft.[17][18] According to one description, it "ushered in the era of underground testing with a magnificent pyrotechnic Roman candle!"[19] As compared with an above-ground test, the radioactive debris released to the atmosphere was reduced by a factor of ten.[19] Theoretical work began on possible containment schemes.[19]
Plumbbob Rainier was detonated at 899 ft underground on 19 September 1957.[17] The 1.7 kt explosion was the first to be entirely contained underground, producing no fallout.[20] The test took place in a 1,600[21] – 2,000 ft[22] horizontal tunnel in the shape of a hook.[22] The hook "was designed so explosive force will seal off the non-curved portion of tunnel nearest the detonation before gases and fission fragments can be prevented around the curve of the tunnel's hook."[22] This test would become the prototype for larger, more powerful tests.[20] Rainier was announced in advance, so that seismic stations could attempt to record a signal.[23] Analysis of samples collected after the test enabled scientists to develop an understanding of underground explosions that "persists essentially unaltered today."[23] The information would later provide a basis for subsequent decisions to agree to the Limited Test Ban Treaty.[23]
[edit] Effects
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[edit] See also
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ a b History of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.
- ^ a b c d Ortmeyer, Pat; Makhijani, Arjun (November/December 1997). "Let Them Drink Milk". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
- ^ a b c Eisenbud, Merril (July 1997). "Monitoring distant fallout: The role of the Atomic Energy Commission Health and Safety Laboratory during the Pacific tests, with special attention to the events following Bravo". Health Physics 73 (1).
- ^ Martha Smith on: The Impact of the Bravo Test. Public Broadcasting Service.
- ^ a b c Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water. US Department of State.
- ^ a b JFK in History: Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
- ^ a b Gladeck, F; Johnson A. (1986). For the Record - A History of the Nuclear Test Personnel Review Program, 1978-1986 (DNA 601F). Defense Nuclear Agency.
- ^ Amchitka Island, Alaska: Potential U.S. Department of Energy site responsibilities (DOE/NV-526). Department of Energy (December 1998). Retrieved on 2006-10-09.
- ^ Today in Technology History: November 29. The Center for the Study of Technology and Society.
- ^ a b c Adushkin, Vitaly V.; Leith, William (September 2001). USGS Open File Report 01-312: Containment of Soviet underground nuclear explosions. US Department of the Interior Geological Survey.
- ^ Some sources identify later tests as the "first." Adushkin (2001) defines such a test as "the near-simultaneous detonation of one or more nuclear charges inside one underground excavation (a tunnel, shaft or borehole)", and identifies Uncle as the first.
- ^ Some sources refer to the test as Jangle Uncle (eg., Adushkin, 2001) or Project Windstorm (eg., DOE/NV-526, 1998). Operation Buster and Operation Jangle were initially conceived as separate operations, and Jangle was at first known as Windstorm, but the AEC merged the plans into a single operation on 19 June 1951. See Gladeck, 1986.
- ^ a b Operation Buster-Jangle. The Nuclear Weapons Archive.
- ^ Ponton, Jean; et al (June 1982). Shots Sugar and Uncle: The final tests of the Buster-Jangle series (DNA 6025F). Defense Nuclear Agency.
- ^ a b c Ponton, Jean; et al (November 1981). Shots Ess through Met and Shot Zucchini: The final Teapot tests (DNA 6013F). Defense Nuclear Agency.
- ^ a b Operation Teapot. The Nuclear Weapons Archive.
- ^ a b Operation Plumbbob. The Nuclear Weapons Archive.
- ^ According to the Nuclear Weapons Archive, the yield is described as "slight", but was approximately 55 tons.
- ^ a b c Campbell, Bob; et al (1983). "Field Testing: The Physical Proof of Design Principles". Los Alamos Science.
- ^ a b Operation Plumbbob. Department of Energy.
- ^ Rollins, Gene (2004). ORAU Team: NIOSH Dose Reconstruction Project. Centers for Disease Control.
- ^ a b c Plumbbob Photographs. Los Alamos National Laboratory.
- ^ a b c Accomplishments in the 1950s. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
[edit] External links
- http://www.princeton.edu/~globsec/publications/pdf/3_3-4Adushkin.pdf
- http://www.thebulletin.org/article_nn.php?art_ofn=so03norris
- http://www.unscear.org/unscear/en/publications.html
- http://www.ingv.it/~roma/SITOINGLESE/research_projects/CTBTO/explosions.html
- http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/intro/ugt.htm
- http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/ugt-nts.htm
- http://www.lanl.gov/natlsecurity/nuclear/current/subcritical.shtml
- http://www.atomictraveler.com/UndergroundTestOTA.pdf
- http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1215_web.pdf
- http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/793554-ZAQEpq/native/793554.pdf
- http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/793554-ZAQEpq/native/793554.pdf
- http://www.princeton.edu/~globsec/publications/effects/effects.shtml
Fallout and Test Ban history
