Background Information on Nevada Nuclear Tests

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Nevada Test Site A mumry of previously-relmsed tifomtion providhg answers to questions concerning the need for and value of nuclear teats, past use of the continental test sites on-site OP~- tfona and controls, public safety, and sme phases of organization and progm. OFFICE OF TEST IN’ORMATION 1235 South Xain Street Las Vegas, Nevada !“ BEST COPY AVAILABLE

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A large volume of official information has been issued concerning Nevada nuclear testing since Nevada Test public has been contained in official publications and reports of the Atomic Energy Commissim$ the Department of Defense, the Federal Civil Defense Administration, other Federal organizations, and the joint Nevada Test Prior to the Spring 1952 series, the Test Organization received many requests from newsmen, from public officials, and from representatives of Federal agencies for a compilation of officially-approved basic information to be used M a source book. k a res~t the first compilation of Background Information was issued during h order to meet similar requests, the information sumnary has been brought up-to-date for each subsequent Nevada Series, incorporating data released officially in the interim period. The present Background Information is such a compilation. It does not attempt to be all-inclusive. Many supplementary details are available elsewhere, for instance in the 1957 revision of “Atomic Tests in Nevada,n the various semiannual reports of the AEC to Congress, and the Government publication ~tTheEffects of Atomic Weapons.” Such publications are usually available in A All material summarized here has been officially released previously, following security and classification retiew by the Federal agency with primary responsibility for the subject matter.

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* Outline of Contents Maps, Charts and Photographs , Page Photograph of Nuclear Cloud .....).......l. Inside Front Co~er Control Point Building at Nevada Test Site. .......G..ll..ll ? Photograph of Underground Burst. ........llc l ll Inside ‘ack cover Atomic Energy Commission, Armed Forces, FCDA Section 2. Why Nuclear Weapons and Devices are Field Tested. To Advance Weapons Development ....l...c lol llc Designing Experimental Devices ..........lllll Citil, Structural and Biomedical Experiments .............. Summary of United States Nuclear Tests by Series ..........3 ~ Sectimn 3. Origin, History and Value of Continental Testing ....... First Developmental Tests in the Pacific .............lll Value of a Continental Site to National Programs ......ll.lll A SHOT BALLQ014AT NEVADA TEST SITE

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Why an Overseas Site is Also Essential ,...... Requirement for Technical Success ...... Public Safety Requirement. .......... Placement of Devices ,............ Placement to Avoid Contaminating Another Site. Division of Real Estate and of Air ....,. Buildup in Laboratories and at the Site ..... Cloud Sampling and Tracking ......... Establishing the Fallout Pattern ....... Section 5. Training Programs and Other Activities Other Nearby Locations ........ Civil Defense Training and Technical Programs . . Air Crew Training and Indoctrination ...... Public Health Service Training ,.,..,... Other Programs at Nevada Test Site and Nearby . . The Safety Experiment Program ........ Liyernmre High Explosive Tests ........ Tonopah Ballistics Range .,......,.. AEC Albuquerque Operations ........... Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory ........ University of California Radiation Laboratory (Livermore) . Armed Forces Special Weapons Project. ........... AEC Support Contractors ..................

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Sectio”E?. Where Nevada Tests Are Location and Geography .... Additions to the Original Site. Contract and Construction Date. Camp Desert Rock ...... Indian Springs Air Force Base. 30 The Control Point. .... Section 8.. Technical Facilities Purpose of Technical Facilities . Technical Structures and Instruments. . Underground Instrumentation Bunkers. The Control Point.... ....... Section 9. The 1957 Test Series l Extent of Program ..... Dual and Triple Capability. Yield Range of a Device . . Section 10. Balloons, Tunnels Section 11. Safety and Radiation Protection Cloud Sampling and Tracking; Airborne Monitoring. Paths of Radioactive Clouds ........... Monitoring Teams in Test Site Area. .......

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Physicians and Veterinarian .,..... Other Data Collecting Projects. ..... Monitoring in Continental United States . Measurements of Radioactivity Outside Section 12. Military Participation. . Section 13. Civil Effects Experiments Civil Effects Organization. .... Use of “Phantoms’tin Biological Studies Vault Design Test.... ....... Evaluation of Instruments .......

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Shot 1 October 22 Tower 6 November 19 Surface or 7 November 29 Surface or Shot 1 April 1 Air Shot 1 March 17 Tower Underground Yucca Flat Underground Yucca Flat

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Series and Date Plumbbob -- Summer 1957 Series Air b Air Missile

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NUCLEAR TEST DETONATIONS OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED BY THE UNITED STATES, THE UNITED KINGDOM, AND THE USRR.— --.- I Compiled through April 16, ‘1957 Trinity, New Mexicoj July 16, 1945 1 Crossroads, Bikini Atoll, July 1946 Sandstone, Eniwetok Proving Ground, April 1948 ; Ranger, Nevada Test Site, January ~ Februa~~ 1951 Greenhouse, EPG, April & MaY, 1951 i Ivy, EPG, November 1952 2 Castle, EPG, March, April & May, 1954 Redwing, EPG, May, June & July, 1956 ; 1953: August 12 (thermonuclear), August 23 (part of series). 1954: October 26 (part of series). 1955: Aug. 4, Sept. 2.4(part of series), NOV. 10 (part of series), 1956: March 21, April 2 (part of series), Aug. 24 (~rt of series), 1957: Jan. 20 (part of series), March 8, April 3 (part of series), April 6, April 10 (part of series), April 12 (Part of series)> 1953: October 15, October 26 (both at Woomera). Oct. 11, Oct. 21 (last four shots, all at Maralinga, constitute fourth British series).

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1. RESPONSIBILITY FOR U. S. NUCLEAR WEAFONS PROGRAMS The Atomic Ener~ Commission is ‘responsible’for developing atomic weapons of requisite yield, variety$ practical u’,ility,and deliverability, and for manufacturing and putting into storage or delivering to the Armed Forces atomic weapo~ of the types and numbers specified in schedules establtihed by the Joint Chiefs of For the development of new and imp.mved nuclear weapons, the Nation depends on the ingenuity of the scientists in its contract laboratories at Los Alamos and Alb~querque, New Mexico, and at Livermore, California$ assisted by military scientists who contribute ideas and developmental concepts. The bs Alamos Scientific Laboratory and the University of California Radiation Laborato~ at Iivermore (both operated for the Commission by the University of California) are concerned primarily with devising systems whereby atomic explosives may be fitted into militarily useful systens. After such a system has been devised, it stil.lmust be fitted ‘ into an efficient and practical atomic weapon, The job of building the explosive system into a practical weapon is the primary concern of the Sandia l&boratory (operated for the Commission by Sandia Corporation$ a unit of the BeU System.) The Armed Forces are .:esponsiblefor establishing the criteria for atomic weapons} for developing and producing the vehicles for delivery and mating the vehicles with the weapons~ for training men in their employment and for military defense a~ainst nuclear attack. The major point of field coordination of the Armed Forces! programs with the EC~s weapons laboratories is in Field Command$ Armed Forces Special Weapons Projectj Sand> Basej Albuquerque. The Federal Civil Defense Administration is responsible primarily for determining the possible effects of nuclear attack on the civilian pcpulation~ and of marshaling civilian resources for defense against such an attack. The Xsponsibilities of all these agencies are interconnected, and all depend upon knowledge cf atomic explosive phenomena and of the effects of nuclear detonations. Field tests are fired to obtain this vital knowledge,

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2. h%Y NUCLEAR WEAPO!!SAh!!DEVICES ARE FIELD TESTED In a world in which free people have no nuclear monopoly, the United States must keep its atomic strength at peak level. That is the primary reason why tests are held periodically in Nevada and in Most of the tests are intended to advance weapons development. Four areas of work are involved in the laboratory and field test development of atomic weapons: primary experimental research, theoretical investigations and calc~ations, component development experimentation, and full-scale nuclear detonations. If any one is neglected, the rate of weapons progress S1OWS. The rate of testing required depends on the rapidity of generation of new ideas. At least nine developmental purposes are served by full scale To proof test a weapon for desired military characteristics before it enters the national stockpile. To provide a firm basis for undertaking extensive engineering and “fabricationeffort which must be expanded to carry a “breadboard” model to a version satisfactory for stockTo demonstrate the adequacy, inadequacy or limitations of current theoretical approaches. To explore phenomena which can vitally affect the efficiency and performance of weapons but which are not susceptible to prior theoretical analysis of sufficient To provide a basis of choice among existing theoretical methods of weapon improvement so as to concentrate effort along lines of greatest practical significance. To determine the validity of entirely new and untried principles proposed for applications to improve performance. To proti~e entirely new information pertinent and valuable to weapon development and arising simply as a by-product of scientific observation of full-scale detonations. To gain time in very urgent development programs by substituting tests for a portion of a possible but lengthy program of laboratory calculations and experiments. To provide as a by-product basic scientific information to add to the stockpile of such knowledge. .-.

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- only for the first purpose, a proof test, would the detonation necessarily be of a“weapon as such. In most circumstances, an experimental device is designed. The device tested is simplified as much as possible to answer the basic question. It minimizes the expenditure of active material. It has as low a yield as possible to minimize off-site fallout. It is seldom a usefil weapon design. The information obtained from its testing will, however, immediately or eventually affect the design of qtockpile weapons and improve the I The Department of Defense and Armed Forces have a deep interest put characteristics of nuclear weapons and their effects on various targets under varying conditions is essential to planning for the use of weapons, for planning military defenses against nuclear weapons, and for developing the desired characteristics of new The Federal agencies charged with civil defense, biomedical studies, and with non-military applications of atomic energy have a continuing need for effects data paralleling the development of nuclear weapons. Essential civil effects information is generally in two categories, biomedical and structural, both distinct from the military effects data required by the Department of Defense. The Federal Civil Defense Administration has obtained such effects information, and additionally has trained its personnel in various test-conducted programs. In all of this broad field of study of the effects of atomic ener~, it has been found that certain answers can only be obtained in the presence of a nuclear detonation. In this respect, the Nevada Test Site (and to some extent the Pacific site) is used as an outdoors laboratory for non-military applications. While most field tests are therefore developmental in nature, the cost in material and effort is so great for any given test that every effort is made to answer with it as many other questions as Summary of United States Nuclear Tests by Series The progressive frequency with which basic ideas have been generated and basic questions raised in weapons development and in effects is indicated by the schedule of detonations in Nevada and the Pacjfic. The scheduling and the number of series since 1950 should indicate also the rate at which questions have been raised and answered. Shot totals are those which have been Trinity Site, New Mexico, July 1945 (one) Eniwetok Proving Ground, spring 1948 (three)

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Nevada Test Site, winter 1951 (five) Eniwetok Proving Ground, spring 1951 (four) Nevada Test Site, autumn 1951 (Sewn) Nevada Test Site, spring 1952 (eight) Eniwetok Proving Ground, autumn 1952 (two) i Nevada Test Site, spring 1953 (eleven) Eniwetok Proving Ground, spring 1954 (three) Nevada Test Site, spring 1955 (fourte~n) Pacific Ocean, spfing 1955 (one) Eniwetok Proving Ground, spring 1956 (three) Charts showing announced world-wide test totals are at the front of this

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3. ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND VALUE OF CONTINENTAL TESTING World War llls crash development,of atomic weapons had the benefit of a single, full-scale field test, that at Trinity (New Mexico) on July 16, 1945. There wa< too little fissionable ma- 1 terial and probably too little time for more, The two weapons fired over Japan were inefficient and very bulky; they left much to be desired. Following World War II, the Navy desired to test the effects of atomic weapons on water and on ships. Bikini Atoll was chosen as a locale because of its isolation from population centers, and because’the relatively shallow and sheltered waters of the lagoon were an excellent environment for the types of tests desired. TWO weapons of a type used over Japan were detonated in the 1946 operation above and below the surface of Bikini lagoon. The tests were ship-based~ and were viewed by public and foreign observers, and by news media representatives.l First Developmental Tests in the Pacific The wartime work had bypassed, for the time being, very promising principles. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory had, in 19451947, opened new paths toward more efficient, more versatile weaPons which needed exploration. The scientists urged a program of field teststo supplement laboratory work. The military’s need for knowledge of weapons effects was no less acute. During 1947 first thought was directed toward a continental site which would facilitate use through location and through sufficient real estate. Plllitaryand .43Cpersonnel surveyed sites on the North American continent. It was felt that, if the weapons laboratories had a “backyard” testing site, results of such tests could be reflected in weapons development or manufacture months The determination was, however, to use an ocean site. Various factors entered into the decision. One was greater security of information at an isolated island site. Another was that the phenomena of bla~t and of radiation and fallout were not well understood and an ocean site, remote from any centers of population, would avoid any public hazard. The Eniwetok site was used for the Sandstone series in April 1948. Selection of a Continental Site The need for a backyard test site became increasingly apparent during-late 1949 and 1950. The pace of weapons development had

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been stepped up, and it became clear that the program would require more frequent tests than could be conducted feasibly in the Pacific. # The rate of development of new and improved nuclear weapons depended on whether or not a continental site could be utilized. Available locations were surveyed again and checked against criteria such as: density of population; Feather, particularly for its effects on radiological safety locally and nationally; operational factors such as air lanes, labor pool, transportation; real estate available to the government; and security. The Nevada site, then a portion of the Air Force!s Las Vegas Bombing and Gunne~ Range, most nearly satisfied all of the criteria for a continental Careful review of all available research and test data relating to fallout and to blast indicated that under the controls plamed, relatively low power tests could be fired with adequate assurance of public safety. The decision to establish a continental test site was made in December, 1950, and the Nevada Test Site was first used for an atomic test on January 27, 1951. Numbers and TYPes of Detonations were fired in five series in Nevada between January 27) 1951) and May 15, 1955. All were relatively small in yield, …