With test moratoriums on the horizon, American weapons labs rushed out many new designs. A hard deadline for testing was set at midnight (0000 hrs), 31 October 1958, as negotiations were set to start that day, and the schedule shows it, with 29 tests executed in October, four of them on the last day. One other test was cancelled because weather delays postponed it across the midnight deadline. After the conclusion of Hardtack II, the United States announced a unilateral testing moratorium, which the Soviet Union joined after two last tests on 1 and 3 November.[2] In September 1961, the Soviet Union resumed nuclear testing — including the test of the most powerful nuclear device ever designed, the Tsar Bomba, in October — and the United States followed suit with Operation Nougat.
Nuclear tests
Tamalpais
The Tamalpais test was conducted in the U12b.02 adit of Rainier Mesa by Lawrence Radiation Laboratory on October 8, 1958.[3] The shot took place in a 394-foot-long hook-shaped drift ending in an unusually large test chamber lined with salt blocks as part of an experiment in preparation for Project Gnome.[4][5] Additional experiments included measuring permanent tunnel displacement, seismic ground shock measurement, gas sampling by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and electromagnetic pulse measurement by the Department of Defense Effects Test Group.[5]:23[6][7] The detonation of the .072 kiloton device released significant radioactive contamination and damage to the U12 tunnel complex, with radiation levels of 50R/h at the main portal and in the 10,000 R/h range in the tunnel immediately following detonation.[6][8]:421 The folowing day, workers reentered the tunnel and triggered a significant hydrogen gas explosion that further damaged the tunnel and injured three workers. Following the tunnel's evacuation, a second hydrogen explosion occurred later the same day.[5][8]:421–423
Adams
Adams was planned to be the final test of Hardtack II, but due to unfavorable winds the shot was never fired. The shot was intended to be a balloon test, and had been fully assembled and raised to firing altitude when it was cancelled. After midnight and the start of the moratorium, the device was lowered to the ground and disassembled. The Soviet Union would continue nuclear testing until 3 November.[9]
A 31 October 1958 meeting of the Atomic Energy Commission following the cancellation resulted in the following note:[10]
[General Alfred Starbird] said there will always be a question as to whether the final shot should have been fired in view of its importance [redacted] but he believed that the other considerations were of overriding importance.
Test planned for Hardtack II, but held up by atmospherics that would have shattered windows in Las Vegas, and could not be completed in time before start of moratorium negotiations.
↑ 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.
↑ 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. Historical time zone data obtained from the IANA time zone database.
↑ 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.
↑ 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.
↑ 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.
↑ Include weapons development, weapon effects, safety test, transport safety test, war, science, joint verification and industrial/peaceful, which may be further broken down.
↑ 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.
↑ Estimated energy yield in tons, kilotons, and megatons. A ton of TNT equivalent is defined as 4.184gigajoules (1gigacalorie).
↑ 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.
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↑ Meade, Roger Allen (12 September 2022). Hardtack II (Report). Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Retrieved 23 January 2024.
1 2 3 4 Operation Hardtack II, 1958(PDF) (DNA6026F), Defense Nuclear Agency, Department of Defense (Washington, DC), archived from the original(PDF) on 18 February 2013, retrieved 31 October 2013
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