Operation Storax - 1962-3 Operation Storax was a series of 47 nuclear tests conducted the United States in 1962–1963 at the Nevada Test Site. The majority of the Storax tests were conducted underground, very similar to Operation Nougat, although with better confinement of radiation than practiced in that earlier series. The tests were primarily intended to develop nuclear explosives for non-military uses. Shot Tendrac as part of Storax was a joint UK/US test involving LLNL and AWRE of the primary for what would become the British WE.177 thermonuclear gravity bomb. The British being able to test at the NTS was the result of the 1958 US–UK Mutual Defence Agreement. This bilateral treaty restored collaboration between the UK and the UK after their exclusion after WW2 with the 1946 McMahon Act, which forbade passing 'restricted data' to American allies under pain of death. Storax included several Plowshare tests, including the massive Sedan shot. The timing of the test placed it within the Operation Storax fiscal year, but Sedan was functionally part of Operation Plowshare. The test protocol was sponsored and conducted by LLNL. Project Plowshare was the overall term for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes, A.K.A. Peaceful Nuclear Explosions (PNE). The phrase was coined in 1961, taken from Micah 4:3 - "And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares" Proposed uses for nuclear explosives included widening canals, constructing waterways and roads. Other proposals involved blasting underground caverns for water, natural gas, and petroleum storage. - Operation Plowshare - 1961-1973 The purpose of Sedan was to investigate the potential of 'clean' thermonuclear devices for producing large craters cheaply. Sedan was detonated at what was estimated to be the optimal crater depth in alluvial soil of 190 metres. 12 million tons of soil and rock were lifted into the air, 8 million tons of it falling outside the crater. The final crater was 390m wide and 97m deep. The force of the detonation released seismic energy equivalent to an earthquake magnitude of 4.75 on the Richter Scale. The device used was similar to that used in Dominic Bluestone and Swanee and, a variant of the W-56 missile warhead that had a fusion yield of 70%. The program was abandoned due to unworkable residual radiation levels. The radiation release was 880,000 curies, about equivalent to a 3-4 kt atmospheric fission test. The Sedan device had a diameter of 43cm, a length of 96.5cm and a weighed 158kg. The Sedan Crater is the largest human-made crater in the United States and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Over 10,000 people per year visit the crater through tours offered by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office. The Plowshare project developed the Sedan test in order to determine the feasibility of using nuclear detonations to quickly and economically excavate large amounts of earth and rock. Assessment of the full effects of the Sedan shot showed that the radioactive fallout from such uses would be extensive. Public concerns about the health effects and a lack of political support eventually led to the abandonment of the concept. No such nuclear excavation has since been undertaken by the United States, though the Soviet Union continued to pursue the concept through their program Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy, particularly with their 140 kiloton Chagan test, which created an artificial lake reservoir, Lake Chagan. - Sedan - 06/07/1962 - DNA 6029F - Defense Nuclear Agency report - PLOWSHARE Gnome and Sedan - Click on a thumbnail for a larger version Test Shots Name Date |UTC| Location Depth Yield LAT/LONG Sedan 17:00 06/07/1962 NTS area 10h -194m 104 kt 37.17700 -116.04540 Merrimac 16:00 13/07/1962 NTS area 3bd -413m 20 kt 37.05506 -116.03339 Wichita 21:00 27/07/1962 NTS area 9y -150m 20 kt 37.12972 -116.05647 York 15:00 24/08/1962 NTS area 9z -226m 20 kt 37.11864 -116.03947 Bobac 17:00 24/08/1962 NTS area 3bl -206m 20 kt 37.04614 -116.02383 Raritan 17:00 06/09/1962 NTS area 9u -160m 20 kt 37.13031 -116.04474 Hyrax 17:10 14/09/1962 NTS area 3bh -216m 20 kt 37.04394 -116.02111 Peba 17:00 20/09/1962 NTS area 3bb -241m 20 kt 37.05506 -116.02928 Allegheny 17:00 29/09/1962 NTS area 9x -210m 20 kt 37.11670 -116.03280 Mississippi 17:00 05/10/1962 NTS area 9ad -494m 115 kt 37.13942 -116.05033 Roanoke 15:00 12/10/1962 NTS area 9q -155m 20 kt 37.12275 -116.05081 Wolverine 17:00 12/10/1962 NTS area 3av -76m 20 kt 37.04878 -116.03256 Tioga 18:00 19/10/1962 NTS area 3bj -61m 20 kt 37.12855 -116.04024 Bandicoot 15:00 19/10/1962 NTS area 10 -241m 12.5 kt 37.03953 -116.02114 Santee 15:00 18/10/1962 NTS area 9f -319m 20 kt 37.14931 -116.05350 St.Lawrence 18:00 09/11/1962 NTS area 2b -167m 20 kt 37.16382 -116.07329 Grundi 18:00 27/11/1962 NTS area 9i -243m 20 kt 37.04175 -116.02387 Anacostia 16:30 15/11/1962 NTS area 9i -227m 20 kt 37.12281 -116.02900 Taunton 16:00 04/12/1962 NTS area 9aa -228m 20 kt 37.12808 -116.05001 Tendrac 19:00 07/12/1962 NTS area 3ba -302m 20 kt 37.12808 -116.05001 Madison 17:25 12/12/1962 NTS area 12g -402m 20 kt 37.16867 -116.20608 Numbat 18:45 12/12/1962 NTS area 3bu -231m 20 kt 37.04611 -116.01561 Manatee 13:10 14/12/1962 NTS area 9af -61m 20 kt 37.12424 -116.03996 Casselman 16:00 08/02/1963 NTS area 10g -302m 20 kt 37.14886 -116.05189 Acushi 18:30 08/02/1963 NTS area 3bg -261m 20 kt 37.04614 -116.02108 Ferret 18:30 08/02/1963 NTS area 3bf -325m 20 kt 37.04614 -116.02108 Hatchie 16:00 08/02/1963 NTS area 9e -60m 20 kt 37.12596 -116.03865 Chipmunk 17:00 15/02/1963 NTS area 3ay -59m 20 kt 37.04901 -116.03175 Kaweah 19:47 21/02/1963 NTS area 9ab -227m 20 kt 37.12031 -116.04572 Carmel 19:47 21/02/1963 NTS area 2h -163m 20 kt 37.15481 -116.07989 Jerboa 19:00 01/03/1963 NTS area 3at -301m 20 kt 37.04457 -116.02650 Toyah 16:22 15/03/1963 NTS area 9ac -130m 20 kt 37.12583 -116.04478 Gerbil 15:49 29/03/1963 NTS area 3bp -279m 20 kt 37.04172 -116.01839 Ferret Prime 17:52 05/04/1963 NTS area 3by -241m 20 kt 37.03733 -116.02392 Coypu 16:01 10/04/1963 NTS area 3af -74m 20 kt 37.04881 -116.03031 Cumberland 16:03 11/04/1963 NTS area 2e -227m 20 kt 37.15668 -116.07096 Kootanai 16:09 24/04/1963 NTS area 9w -181m 20 kt 37.12060 -116.03628 Paisano 16:09 24/04/1963 NTS area 3db -56m 20 kt 37.12053 -116.03618 Gundi Prime 18:19 09/05/1963 NTS area 9wi -271m 20 kt 37.04940 -116.01559 Harkee 14:55 17/05/1963 NTS area 3bv -241m 20 kt 37.04391 -116.03236 Tejon 14:55 17/05/1963 NTS area 3cg -74m 20 kt 37.04834 -116.01563 Stones 15:40 22/05/1963 NTS area 9ae -394m 20 kt 37.11106 -116.03906 Pleasant 15:03 29/05/1963 NTS area 9ah -210m 20 kt 37.12807 -116.04246 Yuba 17:00 05/06/1963 NTS area 12b -242m 3.1 kt 37.19658 -116.20917 Hutia 14:00 06/06/1963 NTS area 3bc -134m 20 kt 37.04503 -116.03636 Apshapa 14:12 06/06/1963 NTS area 9ai -89m 20 kt 37.12465 -116.03998 Mataco 14:10 14/06/1963 NTS area 3bk -195m 20 kt 37.04611 -116.01836 Kennebec 23:00 25/06/1963 NTS area 2af -226m 20 kt 37.13140 -116.06806