Today in Technology History
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November 29
The first underground nuclear explosion occurred exactly 50 years ago in Nevada.
The explosion, a test conducted by the U.S. government, was not underground for reasons of secrecy. It was underground because the military needed to see what would happen. Nuclear bombs had been dropped from planes and exploded from towers,
but there were many other ways they could be deployed. In mid-November 1951, a nuclear bomb sitting on the surface was tested. Exploding a bomb underground was the next logical step.
On November 29, 1951, a nuclear bomb was placed in a pit 17 feet deep at a location called "Frenchman Flat" in the Nevada Test Site. The bomb had the explosive power of 1.2 kilotons of TNT, meaning it was much smaller than either of the two bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. The test, part of "Operation JANGLE," was given the codename "Uncle" (for "underground"). From five miles away, troops observed the explosion, the dust cloud, and the resulting crater. Afterwards, the effects of the explosion on nearby military equipment and fortifications were studied.
Most nuclear tests since then have been conducted underground for reasons of health, safety and secrecy. Some tests register on seismographs, but many -- like India's and Pakistan's recent tests -- go undetected.
The U.S. conducted over 800 underground nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site -- the vast majority of its overall tests -- leaving the area pocked with craters. There are, according to the government, "no cost-effective technologies" for cleaning up the severe contamination in the area.
Related links:
Click here for more pictures of the first underground nuclear explosion.
Click here to see video of the first underground nuclear test.
Click here, here and here to read about the "Uncle" underground test.
Click here to read about Frenchman Flat.
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