0800021 - Operation Plumbbob - 1957 - 22:00 - Black&White 0800022 - Operation Plumbbob, Military Effects Studies - 1957 - 31:45 - Black&White - Operation Plumbbob, conducted between May 28 and October 7, 1957, represented the biggest, longest, and most controversial test series in the history of the Nevada Test Site (NTS). While most Operation Plumbbob tests contributed to the development of warheads for intercontinental and intermediate range missiles, they also tested air defense and antisubmarine warheads with small yields. Operation Plumbbob had the tallest tower tests to date in the US nuclear testing program, as well as high-altitude balloon tests. One nuclear test involved the largest troop maneuver ever associated with US nuclear testing. Approximately 18000 members of the US armed forces participated in exercises Desert Rock VII and VIII during Operation Plumbbob. Their leaders were interested in knowing how the average foot-soldier would stand up, physically and psychologically, to the rigors of the tactical nuclear battlefield. Studies were conducted of radiation contamination and fallout from a simulated accidental detonation of a weapon; and projects concerning earth motion, blast loading and neutron output were carried out. Nuclear weapons safety experiments were conducted to study the possibility of a nuclear weapon detonation during an accident. On July 26, 1957, a safety experiment, "PASCAL-A" was detonated in an unstemmed hole at NTS, becoming the first ...
Tags: Nukes, Nuclear, weapons, WMD, radiation, radioactive, testing, warhead, downwinders, atomic, cancer
No comments:
Post a Comment