Operation Latchkey

Operation Latchkey^[1] was a series of 38 nuclear tests conducted by the United States in 1966–1967 at the Nevada Test Site. These tests followed the Operation Flintlock series and preceded the Operation Crosstie series.

Nuclear tests

Persimmon

Persimmon included a vertical line-of-sight pipe fitted with a fast-acting closure. At the time of detonation, this vacuum pipe provided a pathway for neutrons from the nuclear device to travel to instruments in a tower located above the shot hole. A few seconds after detonation, these instruments and their samples were dragged out of the tower on a sled, before the subsidence crater formed and destroyed the tower.^[2]

List of the nuclear tests

1. ^ The US, France and Great Britain have code-named their test events, while the USSR and China did not, and therefore have only test numbers (with some exceptions – Soviet peaceful explosions were named). Word translations into English in parentheses unless the name is a proper noun. A dash followed by a number indicates a member of a salvo event. The US also sometimes named the individual explosions in such a salvo test, which results in "name1 – 1(with name2)". If test is canceled or aborted, then the row data like date and location discloses the intended plans, where known.
2. ^ To convert the UT time into standard local, add the number of hours in parentheses to the UT time; for local daylight saving time, add one additional hour. If the result is earlier than 00:00, add 24 hours and subtract 1 from the day; if it is 24:00 or later, subtract 24 hours and add 1 to the day. All historical time zone data are derived from here:
3. ^ Rough place name and a latitude/longitude reference; for rocket-carried tests, the launch location is specified before the detonation location, if known. Some locations are extremely accurate; others (like airdrops and space blasts) may be quite inaccurate. "~" indicates a likely pro-forma rough location, shared with other tests in that same area.
4. ^ Elevation is the ground level at the point directly below the explosion relative to sea level; height is the additional distance added or subtracted by tower, balloon, shaft, tunnel, air drop or other contrivance. For rocket bursts the ground level is "N/A". In some cases it is not clear if the height is absolute or relative to ground, for example, Plumbbob/John. No number or units indicates the value is unknown, while "0" means zero. Sorting on this column is by elevation and height added together.
5. ^ Atmospheric, airdrop, balloon, gun, cruise missile, rocket, surface, tower, and barge are all disallowed by the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Sealed shaft and tunnel are underground, and remained useful under the PTBT. Intentional cratering tests are borderline; they occurred under the treaty, were sometimes protested, and generally overlooked if the test was declared to be a peaceful use.
6. ^ Include weapons development, weapon effects, safety test, transport safety test, war, science, joint verification and industrial/peaceful, which may be further broken down.
7. ^ Designations for test items where known, "?" indicates some uncertainty about the preceding value, nicknames for particular devices in quotes. This category of information is often not officially disclosed.
8. ^ Estimated energy yield in tons, kilotons, and megatons. A ton of TNT equivalent is defined as 4.184 gigajoules (1 gigacalorie).
9. ^ Radioactive emission to the atmosphere aside from prompt neutrons, where known. The measured species is only iodine-131 if mentioned, otherwise it is all species. No entry means unknown, probably none if underground and "all" if not; otherwise notation for whether measured on the site only or off the site, where known, and the measured amount of radioactivity released.

References

1. ^ Yang, Xiaoping; North, Robert; Romney, Carl (August 2000), "CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3)", SMDC Monitoring Research
2. ^ Persimmon: A Nuclear Physics Experiment. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Archived November 9, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2022-09-25.
3. ^ "Time Zone Historical Database". iana.com. Archived March 11, 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
4. ^ "Estimated exposures and thyroid doses received by the American people from Iodine-131 in fallout following Nevada atmospheric nuclear bomb tests, Chapter 2", National Cancer Institute, 1997, archived from the original on December 21, 2010, retrieved January 5, 2014
5. ^ "Radiological Effluents Released from U.S. Continental Tests 1961 Through 1992 (DOE/NV-317 Rev. 1)", DOE Nevada Operations Office, August 1996, archived from the original on November 3, 2013, retrieved October 31, 2013
6. ^ "Official list of underground nuclear explosions", Sandia National Laboratories, July 1, 1994, retrieved December 18, 2013
7. ^ "United States Nuclear Tests: July 1945 through September 1992" (DOE/NV-209 REV15), Las Vegas, NV: Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office, December 1, 2000, archived from the original on October 12, 2006, retrieved December 18, 2013
8. ^ Bolt, Bruce A. (1976), "Nuclear Explosions and Earthquakes: The Parted Veil", San Francisco, CA: W.H. Freeman and Co.
9. ^ Hechanova, Anthony E. & O'Donnell, James E. (September 25, 1998), "Estimates of yield for nuclear tests impacting the groundwater at the Nevada Test Site", Nuclear Science and Technology Division
10. ^ Norris, Robert Standish & Cochran, Thomas B. (February 1, 1994), "United States nuclear tests, July 1945 to 31 December 1992 (NWD 94-1)", Nuclear Weapons Databook Working Paper, Washington, DC: Natural Resources Defense Council, archived from the original on October 29, 2013, retrieved October 26, 2013
11. ^ Robert McNamara (1966-12-02). Production and Deployment of the Nike-X. Secretary of Defense McNamara Memorandum for the President. p. 24. Archived January 21, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2022-06-24.