Declassified US Nuclear Test Film #41

Declassified US Nuclear Test Film #41 Tube. Duration : 14.22 Mins.

0800041 - Project Cannikin Review - 1971 - 13:00 - Color - This video reviews Project CANNIKIN, a nuclear test conducted on Amchitka Island, Alaska, at 11:00 am, Bering Standard Time, on November 6, 1971. CANNIKIN, a slightly less-than-five-megaton device, was the largest underground nuclear test conducted in the United States. CANNIKIN was conducted to proof test a warhead for the Spartan missile, a Safeguard Ballistic Missile Defense Program. The video shows the nuclear device and instrumentation canister being lowered into the shaft, detonation sequences, and test effects. A long-range view of water turbulence after the detonation is shown, but no tsunami or large ocean wave was observed or recorded. Numerous ground shock waves are shown at normal speed and as seen by high-speed, slow-motion cameras located at various sites on the island. Surface effects at ground zero and other island locations were filmed one day after the test. Approximately 38 hours after the test, a subsidence crater, approximately 1.5 miles in diameter and 55 feet deep, began to form. Many scenes in the video have no sound intentionally; no material was deleted. The three underground nuclear tests conducted on Amchitka Island, Alaska, were as follows: LONG SHOT, October 29, 1965, shaft, Vela Uniform Project, approximately 80 kilotons MILROW October 2, 1969, shaft, weapons related, approximately 1 megaton (Mt) CANNIKIN, November 6, 1971, shaft, weapons related, less than 5 Mt

Tags: Nukes, Nuclear, weapons, WMD, radiation, radioactive, testing, warhead, downwinders, atomic, cancer

Declassified US Nuclear Test Film #35

Declassified US Nuclear Test Film #35 Tube. Duration : 37.05 Mins.

0800035 - Nuclear Excavation, Excavating with Nuclear Explosives - 1968 - 8:45 - Black&White and Plowshare - 1973 - 28:22 - Color - This video discusses the Plowshare Program - a program that promoted using the energy produced from nuclear explosions for peaceful uses and applications. The Atomic Energy Commission established the program in 1958, and Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (now Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) developed and implemented the projects and tests. Under this program 27 nuclear tests comprising 35 individual detonations were conducted. The video describes the objectives of the Plowshare Program tests that include: stimulation of natural gas production; creation of underground zones of fractured oil shale; earth breaking and moving projects; neutron irradiation of targets to create new elements; copper and other metal extraction from the earth; breaking and crushing mineral deposits; and rapid excavation for large-scale construction projects such as harbors, canals, or mountain passes. Comparisons between conventional and nuclear explosives in terms of cost, volume, and practical uses are discussed. Nuclear explosions are shown in schematic animation format in addition to actual film footage. Footage of people entering the underground GNOME cavity is shown, as well as close-ups of the five simultaneous, BUGGY row detonations. Conventional explosive comparisons are also shown, including one of almost 1400 tons of chemical explosives that decapitated ...

Tags: Nukes, Nuclear, weapons, WMD, radiation, radioactive, testing, warhead, downwinders, atomic, cancer

Declassified US Nuclear Test Film #48

Declassified US Nuclear Test Film #48 Tube. Duration : 19.83 Mins.

0800048 - US Navy Presents Nuclear Effects at Sea - 1976 - 20:30 - Black&White - This video details the effects of high-altitude nuclear tests of greater than a megaton thermonuclear yield on ships, satellites, and personnel. These blasts produce an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that can knock out electrical components over a wide area and destroy electrical systems in planes, ships and satellites. The blast causes flash blindness and retina damage to an individual looking at the blast and can cause damage to the eardrums. The air pressure can damage a ship, even causing a roll over. Also, the blast can destroy the outside structure of a ship. The thermal radiation weakens or melts the outside metal surface and burns the skin, similar to the resultant effects of a fire. The nuclear radiation, consisting of x-rays and neutrons, alters and destroys cells and causes radiation sickness. The three-phase symptoms of radiation sickness are the initial reaction; the latent phase with no symptoms; and the final phase, requiring hospitalization. It was determined that the ships crewmen must take cover in hardened spaces below the water line to escape the effects of radiation. Nuclear radiation also causes failure of the ships electrical systems. From underwater bursts, the shock wave travels in all directions, damaging ships in its path. A surface burst shown causing direct shock damage to the ships hull and secondary damage to interior components.

Keywords: Nukes, Nuclear, weapons, WMD, radiation, radioactive, testing, warhead, downwinders, atomic, cancer

Declassified US Nuclear Test Film #31

Declassified US Nuclear Test Film #31 Tube. Duration : 10.23 Mins.

0800031 - SADM Delivery by Parachutist/Swimmer (Special Atomic Demolition Munition) - No Date Given - 9:45 - Black&White (No explosions) - The Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM) was a Navy and Marines project that was demonstrated as feasible in the mid-to-late 1960s, but was never used. The project, which involved a small nuclear weapon, was designed to allow one individual to parachute from any type of aircraft carrying the weapon package that would be placed in a harbor or other strategic location that could be accessed from the sea. Another parachutist without a weapon package would follow the first parachutist to provide support as needed. The two-man team would place the weapon package in an acceptable location, set the timer, and swim out into the ocean where they would be retrieved by a submarine or other high-speed water craft. The parachute jumps and the retrieval procedures were practiced extensively. The video shows a man in a wet suit donning his parachute, the weapon package, and a reserve parachute. After he jumps from the aircraft and is nearing the water, he drops the weapon package down on a 17-foot line to lessen the impact of his landing. He then floats the weapon package to the desired location.

Tags: Nukes, Nuclear, weapons, WMD, radiation, radioactive, testing, warhead, downwinders, atomic, cancer

Declassified US Nuclear Test Film #22

Declassified US Nuclear Test Film #22 Video Clips. Duration : 32.10 Mins.

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

Declassified US Nuclear Test Film #42

Declassified US Nuclear Test Film #42 Tube. Duration : 28.35 Mins.

0800042 - Atomic Blasts- Operations Greenhouse Through Upshot-Knothole - 1951-1953 - 29:22 - Color - Silent - This video shows a compilation of early atomic blasts taken from individual short films of the tests. These formerly classified films have never before been seen by the public. The video shows close up footage of boiling, tumbling, rolling fireballs of great destructive force as the nuclear power from the splitting of nuclei of atoms is unleashed. The blinding fury released by these early atomic devices demonstrates the show of power that was used by the United States to end World War II and establish a power base for the Cold War to follow. The term "atomic" designated them as fission devices, as opposed to the later much more powerful thermonuclear devices, which used a fission test to start a fusion process. Eventually, the word "atomic" was replaced by the term "nuclear." By the time Operation Greenhouse was conducted, the Atomic Energy Commission began testing devices of higher yields than those detonated in the TRINITY test or in Operations Crossroads, Sandstone or Ranger. Laboratory scientists were using the data gained from the early operations to build more sophisticated devices that delivered more power. The three "atomic" tests in four-test Greenhouse Operation (DOG, EASY, and ITEM) had respective yields of 81, 47 and 45.5 kilotons (kt) compared with the 21 kt yield of the earlier devices of the Fat Man (ie, TRINITY) design. These tests, fired from 300 ...

Tags: Nukes, Nuclear, weapons, WMD, radiation, radioactive, testing, warhead, downwinders, atomic, cancer

Declassified US Nuclear Test Film #43

Declassified US Nuclear Test Film #43 Tube. Duration : 20.70 Mins.

0800043 - 1962 Pacific Nuclear Tests - 1962 - 21:15 - Color - "Polaris underway with a nuclear warhead," is the narrators description of the first of a two-part video. Joint Task Force 8, made up primarily of Department of Defense and Atomic Energy Commission representatives, was responsible for the upcoming test. The video shows the preparations, installation of safety monitoring and diagnostic equipment, placement of test and observation vessels, and the actual nuclear test of a Fleet Ballistic Missile. Participating in the test were personnel aboard the aircraft carrier Yorktown, the destroyer Norton Sound, and the submarine Carbonero. The May 6, 1962, date loomed for the nuclear detonation FRIGATE BIRD, part of the Operation Dominic/Nougat test series. The test was conducted approximately 525 miles from Christmas Island, the nearest land mass, at coordinates for ground zero of North 4 degrees 50 minutes, West 149 degrees 25 minutes. The submerged submarine Ethan Allen, carrying 16 Polaris missiles, launched the missile, and the warhead detonated on target, giving the cameras and viewers a spectacular scene. The narrator closes: "Polaris on target. . .with design yield and full service." The yield has not been announced, but it was enough to shake the crew of the submarine Carbonero for several seconds. The second part of the video shows an antisubmarine rocket (ASROC) underwater nuclear weapons-effects test, described as another proof test of a Navy nuclear weapon ...

Tags: Nukes, Nuclear, weapons, WMD, radiation, radioactive, testing, warhead, downwinders, atomic, cancer