Database of nuclear tests, United Kingdom: introduction
compiled by Wm. Robert Johnston
last modified 11 June 2009
Column data:
- Series
- Shot name--name
- Shot code--
- X--not included in some listings
- Year, month, day (GMT)
- Time (GMT)
- Site--
- LI--Line Islands (now Kiribati), Pacific Ocean:
- LI-CH--Christmas Island (now Kiritimati)
- LI-MI--Malden Island
- MB--Monte Bello Islands, Western Australia, Australia
- NTS--Nevada Test Site, Nevada, United States:
- NTS-PM--NTS, Pahute Mesa
- NTS-YF--NTS, Yucca Flat
- SAU--South Australia, Australia:
- SAU-EF--South Australia, Emu Field
- SAU-MR--South Australia, Maralinga range
- SAU-NA--South Australia, Maralinga, Naya site
- SAU-WE--South Australia, Maralinga, Wewak site
- Latitude (° N) and Longitude (° E)
- Location code
- Hole designation--area for Nevada Test Site shots
- Height of burst--negative indicates depth
- Ground zero altitude--0 indicates burst above/below water
- Ground zero code
- Type of detonation--
- A--atmospheric
- A-AD--airdrop
- A-B--balloon
- AS--atmospheric, surface
- AW--atmospheric, water surface
- UG--underground
- Purpose--
- SE--safety experiment
- WE--weapons effects
- WR--nuclear weapons related
- Yield, minimum and maximum--in kt, announced figures
- Yield, estimated--in kt, reported figures from unofficial sources
- Yield notes
- Yield, preferred value
- Magnitude Mb--seismic
- Crater--diameter in meters
- Vented--radioactivity release in curies
- Device
- BF--boosted fission
- FZ--fizzile
- IP--implosion, plutonium core
- ND--no detonation
- SL--Sloika or "layer-cake" thermonuclear
- TN--thermonuclear, multistage (number indicates % fission)
- Warhead
- Sponsor
- Reported
- Notes
- Sources--see list below
Sources for United Kingdom test list:
- 1 = Yang, Xiaoping, Robert North, and Carl Romney, Aug. 2000, "CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3)," on line, SMDC Monitoring Research [http://www.rdss.info/database/nucex/report/explosion.pdf].
- 2 = Norris, Robert S., Andrew S. Burrows, and Richard W. Fieldhouse, 1994, Nuclear Weapons Databook, Vol. 5: British, French, and Chinese Nuclear Weapons, Westview Press (Boulder, CO).
- 3 = Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office, Dec. 2000, United States Nuclear Tests: July 1945 through September 1992, U.S. DOE (Las Vegas, NV), on line at Nevada Site Office [http://www.nv.doe.gov/news&pubs/publications/historyreports/pdfs/DOENV209_REV15.pdf].
- 4 = Maralinga Rehabilitation Technical Advisory Committee, 2002, Rehabilitation of Former Nuclear Test Sites at Emu and Maralinga (Australia) 2003, Department of Education, Science and Training (Canberra City, ACT), on line at Radioactive Waste Management in Australia [http://www.radioactivewaste.gov.au/pdf_documents/maralinga/martac_report/martac_report.pdf].
- 5 = Sandia National Laboratories, July 1994, "Official list of underground nuclear explosions," on line at Nuclear Weapon Archive [http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Nevada.html].
- 6 = Burns, Peter A., Malcolm B. Cooper, Peter N. Johnston, and Geoffrey A. Williams, Dec. 1990, Properties of Plutonium-Contaminated Particles Resulting from British Vixen B Trials at Maralinga, Australian Radiation Laboratory (Yallambie, VIC, Australia), on line at ARPNSA [http://www.arpansa.gov.au/pubs/technicalreports/arl086.pdf].
- 7 = Cooper, Malcolm B., Keith H. Lokan, and Geoffrey A. Williams, Oct. 1983, The Radiological Status of the Monte Bello Islands: May 1983, Australian Radiation Laboratory (Yallambie, VIC, Australia), on line at ARPNSA [http://www.arpansa.gov.au/pubs/technicalreports/tr062.pdf].
- 8 = Maclagan, D. S., M. B. Cooper, and J. C. Duggleby, Aug. 1979, Residual Radioactive Contamination of the Test Site at Emu from Nuclear Weapons Tests conducted in 1953, Australian Radiation Laboratory (Yallambie, VIC, Australia), on line at ARPNSA [http://www.arpansa.gov.au/pubs/technicalreports/arl012.pdf].
- a = Cathcart, Brian, 1994, Test of Greatness: Britain's Stuggle for the Atom Bomb, John Murray (Cambridge, UK).
- b = Andryushin, L. A., N. P. Voloshin, R. I. Ilkaev, A. M. Matushchenko, L. D. Ryabev, V. G. Strukov, A. K. Chernyshev, and Yu. A. Yudin, 1999, Catalog of Worldwide Nuclear Testing, RFNC-VNIIEF (Sarov, Russia), on line at Institute of Strategic Stability [http://www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/index.htm].
- c = Milliken, Robert, 1986, No Conceivable Injury, Penguin Books (Ringwood, Victoria, Australia).
- d = Liddell Hart Centre, 19 May 2005, "King's College London, Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, Nuclear History Database," King's College London, on line [http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/pro/p-def16.htm].
- e = Hechanova, Anthony E., and James E. O'Donnell, 25 Sept. 1998, "Estimates of yield for nuclear tests impacting the groundwater at the Nevada Test Site," Nuclear Science and Technology Division, on line [http://nstg.nevada.edu/web_pubs/yield.pdf].
- f = Bolt, Bruce A., 1976, Nuclear Explosions and Earthquakes: The Parted Veil, W.H. Freeman and Co. (San Francisco, CA).
- g = SMDC, 2004, "Nuclear explosion database," SMDC Monitoring Research Program, on line, [http://www.rdss.info/index_ie.html].
- h = Conrad, David C., July/Aug. 2000, "Underground explosions are music to their ears," Science and Technology Review, on line at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory [http://www.llnl.gov/str/Conrad.html].
- i = DOE, Feb. 2003, "Nevada Test Site: U1a Complex subcritical experiments," on line, DOE Nevada [http://www.nv.doe.gov/news&pubs/dirpdfs/DOENV708_REV1_U1a.pdf].
- j = compiler's estimates based on images at Google Maps, on line [http://maps.google.com/].
- k = Hansen, Chuck, 1995, The Swords of Armageddon, Vol. 8, Chukelea Publ. (Sunnyvale, CA).
- l = Medalia, Jonathan, 11 March 2005, "Nuclear Weapons: Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty," CRS Issue Brief IB92099, on line at U.S. Department of State [http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/44946.pdf].
- m = DOE, Feb. 2003, "Nevada Test Site: U1a Complex subcritical experiments," on line, DOE Nevada [http://www.nv.doe.gov/news&pubs/dirpdfs/DOENV708_REV1_U1a.pdf].
- n = DOE Nevada Operations Office, Aug. 1996, Radiological Effluents Released from U.S. Continental Tests 1961 Through 1992, DOE/NV-317 Rev. 1, Nevada Operations Office (Las Vegas, NV), on line at Nevada Site Office [http://www.nv.doe.gov/news&pubs/publications/historyreports/pdfs/nv-317.pdf].
- o = NNSA, 23 Feb. 2006, "Krakatau subcritical experiment conducted," on line, DOE Nevada [http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/newsreleases/KrakatauSuccessful_02232006.pdf].
- p = DOE, Sept. 2004, "Subcritical experiments at the U1a facility," on line, DOE Nevada [http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/FactSheets/DOENV_1016.pdf].
- q = NNSA, 14 Feb. 2002, "National Nuclear Security Administration scientists conduct successful subcritical experiment at Nevada Test Site," on line, DOE Nevada [http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/newsreleases/Vito_02142002NR.pdf].
- r = Cross, Roger, and Avon Hudson, 2006, Beyond Belief: The British Bomb Tests: Australia's Veterans Speak Out, Wakefield Press.
© 2005-2006, 2009 by Wm. Robert Johnston.
Last modified 11 June 2009.
Return to Home. Return to Nuclear Weapons. Return to Nuclear Tests--Databases and Other Material.