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N0KFQ > TODAY 19.09.15 16:45l 50 Lines 2124 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 67635_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Sep 19
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Sent: 150919/1438Z 67635@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.64
1957
Nevada is site of first-ever underground nuclear explosion
On this day in 1957, the United States detonates a 1.7 kiloton
nuclear weapon in an underground tunnel at the Nevada Test Site
(NTS), a 1,375 square mile research center located 65 miles north
of Las Vegas. The test, known as Rainier, was the first fully
contained underground detonation and produced no radioactive
fallout. A modified W-25 warhead weighing 218 pounds and
measuring 25.7 inches in diameter and 17.4 inches in length was
used for the test. Rainier was part of a series of 29 nuclear
weapons and nuclear weapons safety tests known as Operation
Plumbbob that were conducted at the NTS between May 28, 1957, and
October 7, 1957.
In December 1941, the U.S. government committed to building the
world's first nuclear weapon when President Franklin Roosevelt
authorized $2 billion in funding for what came to be known as the
Manhattan Project. The first nuclear weapon test took place on
July 16, 1945, at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico. A
few weeks later, on August 6, 1945, with the U.S. at war against
Japan, President Harry Truman authorized the dropping of an
atomic bomb named Little Boy over Hiroshima, Japan. Three days
later, on August 9, a nuclear bomb called Fat Man was dropped
over Nagasaki. Two hundred thousand people, according to some
estimates, were killed in the attacks on the two cities and on
August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allied Powers.
1957's Operation Plumbbob took place at a time when the U.S. was
engaged in a Cold War and nuclear arms race with the Soviet
Union. In 1963, the U.S. signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty,
which banned nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere,
underwater and outer space. A total of 928 tests took place at
the Nevada Test Site between 1951 and 1992, when the U.S.
conducted its last underground nuclear test. In 1996, the U.S
signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits nuclear
detonations in all environments.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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