Ivy Mike
{{short description|1952 American nuclear test}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}} {{Use American English|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox Nuclear weapons test
|name = Ivy Mike
|picture = IvyMikeGIFColorCorrected.gif
|picture_description = Detonation and subsequent mushroom cloud of the "Mike" shot (in fast motion).
|country = United States
Marshall Islands
|test_series = Operation Ivy
|test_site = Enewetak, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
|date = {{Start date and age|1952|11|01|p=yes|br=yes}}
|test_type = Atmospheric
|yield = 10.4 megatons of TNT
|previous_test = Tumbler–Snapper How
|next_test = Ivy King
}}
Ivy Mike was the codename given to the first full-scale{{NoteTag|The Greenhouse George device in 1951 was the first weapon to use thermonuclear fusion.}} test of a thermonuclear device, in which a significant fraction of the explosive yield comes from nuclear fusion.{{cite web |title=Operation Greenhouse – 1951 |url=http://www.myatomiclife.com/1951---op-greenhouse.html |website=Atomic Shadows |access-date=9 January 2020}}The first small-scale thermonuclear test was the George explosion of Operation Greenhouse.{{citation| publisher=Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office| date=December 1, 2000| title=United States Nuclear Tests: July 1945 through September 1992| type=DOE/NV-209 REV15| location=Las Vegas, NV| url=http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/publications/historical/DOENV_209_REV15.pdf| access-date=December 18, 2013| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615231826/http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/publications/historical/DOENV_209_REV15.pdf| archive-date=June 15, 2010}}
Ivy Mike was detonated on November 1, 1952, by the United States on the island of Elugelab in Enewetak Atoll, in the now independent island nation of the Marshall Islands, as part of Operation Ivy. It was the first full test of the Teller–Ulam design, a staged fusion device.{{cite magazine |last1=Wellerstein |first1=Alex |title=A Hydrogen Bomb by Any Other Name |magazine=The New Yorker |date=January 8, 2016 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/a-hydrogen-bomb-by-any-other-name |access-date=19 January 2020}}
Due to its physical size and fusion fuel type (cryogenic liquid deuterium), the "Mike" device was not suitable for use as a deliverable weapon. It was intended as a "technically conservative" proof of concept experiment to validate the concepts used for multi-megaton detonations.
Samples from the explosion had traces of the isotopes plutonium-246, plutonium-244, and the predicted elements einsteinium and fermium.
Schedule
Beginning with the Teller–Ulam breakthrough in March 1951, there was steady progress made on the issues involved in a thermonuclear explosion and there were additional resources devoted to staging, and political pressure towards seeing, an actual test of a hydrogen bomb.{{cite journal | title=Crossing the Rubicon: A Missed Opportunity to Stop the H-Bomb? | author-first=Barton J. | author-last=Bernstein | journal=International Security | volume=14 | issue=2 | date=Fall 1987 | pages=132–160 | doi=10.2307/2538857 | jstor=2538857 | s2cid=154778522 }}{{rp|137–139}} A date within 1952 seemed feasible.{{rp|556}} In October 1951 physicist Edward Teller pushed for July 1952 as a target date for a first test, but project head Marshall Holloway thought October 1952, a year out, was more realistic given how much engineering and fabrication work the test would take and given the need to avoid the summer monsoon season in the Marshall Islands.{{rp|page=482}} On June 30, 1952, United States Atomic Energy Commission chair Gordon Dean showed President Harry S. Truman a model of what the Ivy Mike device would look like; the test was set for November 1, 1952.{{rp|590}}
One attempt to significantly delay the test, or not hold it at all, was made by the State Department Panel of Consultants on Disarmament, chaired by J. Robert Oppenheimer, who felt that avoiding a test might forestall the development of a catastrophic new weapon and open the way for new arms agreements between the United States and the Soviet Union.{{rp|139–142}} The panel lacked political allies in Washington, however, and no test delay was made on this account.{{rp|145–148}}
There was a separate desire voiced for a very short delay in the test, for more political reasons: it was scheduled to take place just a few days before the 1952 presidential election.{{rp|page=497}} Truman wanted to keep the thermonuclear test away from partisan politics but had no desire to order a postponement of it himself; however he did make it known that he would be fine if it was delayed past the election due to "technical reasons" being found.{{cite book | author-last = Hewlett | author-first = Richard G. | author2-last = Duncan | author2-first = Francis | title = Atomic Shield, 1947–1952 | volume=2 | series = A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission | publisher = Pennsylvania State University Press | location = University Park| date = 1969 |url=https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2013/04/f0/Hewlett%20and%20Duncan%20-%20Atomic%20Shield%20%28complete%29.pdf }}{{rp|590–591}}{{rp|pages=497–498}} Atomic Energy Commission member Eugene M. Zuckert was sent to the Enewetak test site to see if such a reason could be found, but weather considerations – on average there were only a handful of days each month that were suitable for the test – indicated it should go ahead as planned, and in the end no schedule delay took place.{{rp|590–592}}{{rp|page=498}}
Device design and preparations
Image:Ivy Mike Sausage device.jpg
The {{convert|82|ST|MT|sigfig=2|abbr=off|adj=on}} "Mike" device was a building that resembled a factory rather than a weapon.{{cite book |last1=Parsons |first1=Keith M. |last2=Zaballa |first2=Robert A. |title=Bombing the Marshall Islands: A Cold War Tragedy |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mQQvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA41|pages=41–46|isbn=9781108508742 }} It has been reported that Soviet engineers derisively referred to "Mike" as a "thermonuclear installation".{{rp|page=391}}
The device was designed by Richard Garwin, a student of Enrico Fermi, on the suggestion of Edward Teller. It had been decided that nothing other than a full-scale test would validate the idea of the Teller-Ulam design. Garwin was instructed to use very conservative estimates when designing the test, and told that it need not be small and light enough to be deployed by air.{{rp|page=327}}
Liquid deuterium was chosen as the fuel for the fusion reaction because its use simplified the experiment from a physicist's point of view, and made the results easier to analyze. From an engineering point of view, its use necessitated the development of previously unknown technologies to handle the difficult material, which had to be stored at extremely low temperatures, near absolute zero.{{rp|pages=41–42}} A large cryogenics plant was built to produce liquid hydrogen (used for cooling the device) and deuterium (fuel for the test). A {{convert|3000|kW|adj=on}} power plant was also constructed for the cryogenics facility.{{rp|page=44}}
The device that was developed for testing the Teller-Ulam design became known as a "Sausage" design:{{rp|page=43}}
- At its center was a cylindrical insulated steel Dewar (vacuum flask) or cryostat. This tank, almost {{convert|7|ft|m|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} across and more than {{convert|20|ft|m|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} high,{{rp|page=43}} had walls almost {{convert|30|cm|ft|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} thick.{{cite web |title=1 November 1952 – Ivy Mike |url=https://www.ctbto.org/specials/testing-times/1-november-1952-ivy-mike |website= Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization |access-date=2021-11-10 | df =dmy-all}} It weighed approximately {{convert|54|ST|MT|sigfig=2|abbr=off}}. It was capable of holding {{convert|1000|liters|USgal|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} of liquid deuterium, cooled to near-absolute zero.{{cite web |title=Deuterium|page=8 |url=https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/wonecks.net/dist/4/1630/files/2016/03/Deuterium-Article-1aqpg12.pdf}}{{cite news |last1=Reichhardt |first1=Tony |title=The First Hydrogen Bomb |url=https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/first-hydrogen-bomb-180967074/ |access-date=22 January 2020 |work=Air & Space |date=November 2, 2017}} The cryogenic deuterium provided the fuel for the "secondary" (fusion) stage of the explosion.{{rp|page=43}}
- At one end of the cylindrical Dewar flask was a TX-5{{rp|page=66}} regular fission bomb (not boosted{{rp|page=43}}). The TX-5 bomb was used to create the conditions needed to initiate the fusion reaction. This "primary" fission stage was nested inside the radiation case at the upper section of the device, and was not in physical contact with the "secondary" fusion stage. The TX-5 did not require refrigeration.{{rp|page=43}}{{rp|pages=43–44}}
- Running down the center of the Dewar flask within the secondary was a cylindrical rod of plutonium within a chamber of tritium gas. This "fission sparkplug" was imploded by x-rays from the primary detonation. That provided a source of outward-moving pressure inside the deuterium and increased conditions for the fusion reaction.{{rp|pages=43–44}}
- Surrounding the assembly was a {{convert|5|ST|MT|sigfig=2|abbr=off|adj=on}} natural uranium "tamper". The exterior of the tamper was lined with sheets of lead and polyethylene, forming a radiation channel to conduct X-rays from the "primary" to the "secondary" stage. As laid out in the Teller-Ulam design, the function of the X-rays was to compress the "secondary" with tamper/pusher ablation, foam plasma pressure and radiation pressure. This process increases the density and temperature of the deuterium to the level needed to sustain a thermonuclear reaction, and compress the "sparkplug" to a supercritical mass – inducing the "sparkplug" to undergo nuclear fission and to thereby start a fusion reaction in the surrounding deuterium fuel.{{rp|pages=43–44}}
The entire "Mike" device (including cryogenic equipment) weighed {{convert|82|ST|MT|sigfig=2|abbr=off}}. It was housed in a large corrugated-aluminum building, called the shot cab, which was {{convert|88|ft|m|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} long,
{{convert|46|ft|m|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} wide, and
{{convert|61|ft|m|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} high, with a
{{convert|300|ft|m|sigfig=2|abbr=on|adj=on}} signal tower. Television and radio signals were used to communicate with a control room on {{USS|Estes}} where the firing party was located.{{rp|pages=43–44}}{{rp|page=42}}
It was set up on the Pacific island of Elugelab, part of the Enewetak atoll. Elugelab was connected to the islands of Dridrilbwij (Teiteir), Bokaidrikdrik (Bogairikk), and Boken (Bogon) by a {{convert|9000|ft|km|sigfig=2|abbr=on|adj=on}}
artificial causeway. Atop the causeway was an aluminum-sheathed plywood tube filled with helium ballonets, referred to as a Krause-Ogle box.{{rp|page=34}}
This allowed gamma and neutron radiation to pass uninhibited to instruments in an unmanned detection station, Station 202, on Boken Island. From there signals were sent to recording equipment at Station 200, also housed in a bunker on Boken Island. Personnel returned to Boken Island after the test to recover the recording equipment.{{rp|pages=136, 138}}
In total, 9,350 military and 2,300 civilian personnel were involved in the "Mike" shot.{{rp|page=2|quote=The total number of personnel involved in the task force was nearly 11,650, of which 9,350 were military and 2,300 were civilians. Most of the civilians and over 6,600 of the military personnel operated from Enewetak Atoll and from task force ships that were based there. Most of the remaining military were Air Force personnel who were based at Kwajalein, 360 mi (667 km) southeast of
Enewetak.}} The operation involved the cooperation of the United States army, navy, air force and intelligence services. The USS Curtiss brought components from the United States to Elugelab for assembly. Work was completed on October 31, at 5.00 p.m. Within an hour, personnel were evacuated in preparation for the blast.{{rp|pages=43–44}}
Detonation
Image:Ivy Mike - Elugelab pt1.jpg
Image:Ivy Mike - Elugelab pt2.jpg
The test was carried out on 1 November 1952 at 07:15 local time (19:15 on 31 October, Greenwich Mean Time). It produced a yield of {{convert|10.4|MtonTNT|lk=on}}.{{cite news |last1=Rowberry |first1=Ariana |title=Castle Bravo: The Largest U.S. Nuclear Explosion |url=https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2014/02/27/castle-bravo-the-largest-u-s-nuclear-explosion |access-date=9 January 2020 |work=Brookings |date=February 27, 2014}} {{percentage|77|100}} of the final yield came from fast fission of the uranium tamper, which produced large amounts of radioactive fallout.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}
The fireball created by the explosion had a maximum radius of {{convert|2.9|to|3.3|km|sigfig=2|abbr=on}}.{{Cite web | last=Walker | first=John | author-link=John Walker (programmer) | title=Nuclear Bomb Effects Computer | publisher=Fourmilab | date=June 2005 | access-date=2009-11-22 | url=http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Bombcalc?yield=10400&yunit=1&range=5&runit=0.62137119&rotate=310&imsize=800 }}
{{Cite web | last=Walker | first=John | author-link=John Walker (programmer) | title=Nuclear Bomb Effects Computer Rev. Ed. 1962, Based on Data from The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, Rev. Ed., 'The maximum fireball radius presented on the computer is an average between that for air and surface bursts. Thus, the fireball radius for a surface burst is 13 percent larger than that indicated and for an air burst, 13 percent smaller.'| publisher=Fourmilab | date=June 2005 | access-date=2009-11-22 | url=http://www.fourmilab.ch/bombcalc/instructions.html}}{{cite web |url=http://www.remm.nlm.gov/RemmMockup_files/radiationlethality.jpg |title=Mock up |publisher=Remm.nlm.gov |access-date=2013-11-30 |archive-date=2013-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607091341/http://www.remm.nlm.gov/RemmMockup_files/radiationlethality.jpg |url-status=dead }} The maximum radius was reached several seconds after the detonation, during which the hot fireball lifted up due to buoyancy. While still relatively close to the ground, the fireball had yet to reach its maximum dimensions and was thus approximately {{convert|5.2|km|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} wide. The mushroom cloud rose to an altitude of {{convert|17|km|ft|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} in less than 90 seconds. One minute later it had reached {{convert|33|km|ft|sigfig=3|abbr=on}}, before stabilizing at {{convert|41|km|ft|sigfig=3|abbr=on}} with the top eventually spreading out to a diameter of {{convert|161|km|sigfig=3|abbr=on}} with a stem {{convert|32|km|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} wide.{{cite book |last1=Blades |first1=David M. Blades |last2=Siracusa |first2=Joseph M. |title=A History of U.S. Nuclear Testing and Its Influence on Nuclear Thought, 1945–1963 |date=2014 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tKEXBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 |access-date=21 January 2020|isbn=9781442232013 }}
The blast created a crater {{convert|1.9|km|ft|sigfig=3|abbr=on}} in diameter and {{convert|50|m|ft|sigfig=3|abbr=on}} deep where Elugelab had once been;{{cite web |title=Operation Ivy 1952 - Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands|date= 14 May 1999 |url=http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Ivy.html |website=Nuclear Weapon Archive |access-date=9 January 2020}} the blast and water waves from the explosion (some waves up to {{convert|6|m|ft|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} high) stripped the test islands clean of vegetation, as observed by a helicopter survey within 60 minutes after the test, by which time the mushroom cloud and steam were blown away. Radioactive coral debris fell upon ships positioned {{convert|56|km|mi|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} away, and the immediate area around the atoll was heavily contaminated.{{cite journal |last1=Froehlich |first1=M.B. |last2=Chan |first2=W.Y. |last3=Tims |first3=S.G. |last4=Fallon |first4=S.J. |last5=Fifield |first5=L.K. |title=Time-resolved record of 236U and 239, 240Pu isotopes from a coral growing during the nuclear testing program at Enewetak Atoll (Marshall Islands) |journal=Journal of Environmental Radioactivity |date=December 2016 |volume=165 |pages=197–205 |doi=10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.09.015|pmid=27764678 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Buesseler |first1=Ken O. |last2=Charette |first2=Matthew A. |last3=Pike |first3=Steven M. |last4=Henderson |first4=Paul B. |last5=Kipp |first5=Lauren E. |title=Lingering radioactivity at the Bikini and Enewetak Atolls |journal=Science of the Total Environment |date=April 2018 |volume=621 |pages=1185–1198 |doi=10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.10.109|pmid=29096952 |bibcode=2018ScTEn.621.1185B |doi-access=free |hdl=1912/9537 |hdl-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Hughes |first1=Emlyn W. |last2=Molina |first2=Monica Rouco |last3=Abella |first3=Maveric K. I. L. |last4=Nikolić-Hughes |first4=Ivana |last5=Ruderman |first5=Malvin A. |title=Radiation maps of ocean sediment from the Castle Bravo crater |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=30 July 2019 |volume=116 |issue=31 |pages=15420–15424 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1903478116 |pmid=31308235 |pmc=6681739 |bibcode=2019PNAS..11615420H |doi-access=free }}
Close to the fireball, lightning discharges were rapidly triggered.{{cite journal |last1=Colvin |first1=J. D. |last2=Mitchell |first2=C. K. |last3=Greig |first3=J. R. |last4=Murphy |first4=D. P. |last5=Pechacek |first5=R. E. |last6=Raleigh |first6=M. |title=An empirical study of the nuclear explosion-induced lightning seen on IVY-MIKE |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research |date=1987 |volume=92 |issue=D5 |page=5696 |doi=10.1029/JD092iD05p05696 |bibcode=1987JGR....92.5696C }}
The entire shot was documented by the filmmakers of Lookout Mountain studios.{{cite news |last1=Chamberlain |first1=Craig |title=New book tells story of secret Hollywood studio that shaped the nuclear age |date=January 14, 2019 |work=Illinois News Bureau |url=https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/739553}} A post-production explosion sound was overdubbed over what was a completely silent detonation from the vantage point of the camera, with the blast wave sound only arriving later, as akin to thunder, with the exact time depending on its distance.{{cite web|url=http://ocw.nd.edu/physics/nuclear-warfare/notes/lecture-14#mechanical-shock |title=Nuclear Warfare Lecture 14 by Professor Grant J. Matthews of University of Notre Dame OpenCourseWare. Mechanical Shock velocity equation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219010502/http://ocw.nd.edu/physics/nuclear-warfare/notes/lecture-14 |archive-date=2013-12-19 }} The film was also accompanied by powerful, Wagner-esque music featured on many test films of that period and was hosted by actor Reed Hadley. A private screening was given to President Dwight D. Eisenhower who had succeeded President Harry S. Truman in January 1953.{{cite book |last1=Weart |first1=Spencer |title=The Rise of Nuclear Fear |date=2012 |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9KBD-YrGOVkC&pg=PA80|isbn=9780674065062 }}{{rp|80}} In 1954, the film was released to the public after censoring, and was shown on commercial television channels.{{rp|183}}
Edward Teller, perhaps the most ardent supporter of the development of the hydrogen bomb, was in Berkeley, California, at the time of the shot.{{cite magazine |title=The Atom: The Road Beyond Elugelab |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,823289,00.html |access-date=21 January 2020 |magazine=Time |issue=15|volume=63|page= 23 |date=April 12, 1954}} He was able to receive first notice that the test was successful by observing a seismometer, which picked up the shock wave that traveled through the earth from the Pacific Proving Grounds.{{cite book |last1=Axelrod |first1=Alan |title=The Real History of the Cold War: A New Look at the Past |date=2009 |publisher=Sterling |page=[https://archive.org/details/realhistoryofcol0000axel/page/156 156] |url=https://archive.org/details/realhistoryofcol0000axel |url-access=registration |access-date=21 January 2020|isbn=9781402763021 }}{{Cite Q | Q105755363 | last1 = Rhodes | first1 = Richard | author-link1 = Richard Rhodes | df = dmy-all | via = Internet Archive }}{{rp|pages=777–778}} In his memoirs, Teller wrote that he immediately sent an unclassified telegram to Dr. Elizabeth "Diz" Graves, the head of the rump project remaining at Los Alamos during the shot. The telegram contained only the words "It's a boy," which came hours earlier than any other word from Enewetak.{{cite book|title=Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam: A Life in Physics |first1=Kenneth |last1=Ford |first2=John Archibald |last2=Wheeler |page=227 |publisher=W.W. Norton & Co. |date=2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zGFkK2tTXPsC&q=elizabeth+graves+physicist&pg=PA227 |access-date=2013-12-21|isbn=9780393079487 }}{{cite book |last1=Teller |first1=Edward |last2=Schoolery |first2=Judith |title=Memoirs: A Twentieth Century Journey In Science And Politics |date=2009 |publisher=Perseus Publishing |location=Cambridge, MA |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n82xMo-BI8QC&q=%22It%27s+a+boy%2C%22|isbn=9780786751709 }}{{rp|352}}
Scientific discoveries
Image:IvyMikeCloudTrinity&Beyond.jpg.]]
An hour after the bomb was detonated, U.S. Air Force pilots took off from Enewetak Island to fly into the atomic cloud and take samples. Pilots had to monitor extra readouts and displays while "piloting under unusual, dangerous, and difficult conditions” including heat, radiation, unpredictable winds and flying debris. "Red Flight" Leader Virgil K. Meroney flew into the stem of the explosion first. In five minutes, he had gathered all the samples he could, and exited. Next Bob Hagan and Jimmy Robinson entered the cloud. Robinson hit an area of severe turbulence, entering a spin and barely retaining consciousness. He regained control of his plane at 20,000 feet, but the electromagnetic storm had disrupted his instruments. In rain and poor visibility, without working instruments, Hagan and Robinson were unable to find the KB-29 tanker aircraft to refuel.{{rp|96}} They attempted to return to the field at Enewetak. Hagan, out of fuel, made a successful dead-stick landing on the runway. Robinson's F-84 Thunderjet crashed and sank 3.5 miles short of the island. Robinson's body was never recovered.{{cite web |title=F-84G-5-RE Thunderjet Serial Number 51-1040 |url=https://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/f-84/51-1040.html |website=Pacific Wrecks |access-date=9 January 2020}}{{cite journal |last1=Wolverton |first1=Mark |title=Into the Mushroom Cloud Most pilots would head away from a thermonuclear explosion |journal=Air & Space Magazine|publisher=Smithsonian |date=2009 |issue=August |url=https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/into-the-mushroom-cloud-35152524/ |access-date=9 January 2020}}
Fuel tanks on the airplane's wings had been modified to scoop up and filter passing debris. The filters from the surviving planes were sealed in lead and sent to Los Alamos, New Mexico for analysis. Radioactive and contaminated with calcium carbonate, the "Mike" samples were extremely difficult to handle. Scientists at Los Alamos found traces in them of isotopes plutonium-246 and plutonium-244.
Al Ghiorso at the University of California, Berkeley speculated that the filters might also contain atoms that had transformed, through radioactive decay, into the predicted but undiscovered elements 99 and 100. Ghiorso, Stanley Gerald Thompson and Glenn Seaborg obtained half a filter paper from the Ivy Mike test. They were able to detect the existence of the elements einsteinium and fermium, which had been produced by intensely concentrated neutron flux about the detonation site. The discovery was kept secret for several years, but the team was eventually given credit. In 1955 the two new elements were named in honor of Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi.{{cite web |first1= Kit |last1=Chapman |title= Element Hunting in a Nuclear Storm |date= January 14, 2020 |url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/element-hunting-in-a-nuclear-storm |website=Distillations |publisher= Science History Institute |access-date=January 14, 2020}}{{cite book |author=Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory (KAPL) |title=Nuclides and Isotopes – Chart of the Nuclides |date=2010 |publisher=Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation |location=Schenectady, NY |edition=17th}}{{cite book |last1=Nagy |first1=Sandor |title=Radiochemistry and Nuclear Chemistry |volume= I |year=2009 |publisher=EOLSS Publications |pages=91–92 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VbO2CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA91 |access-date=21 January 2020|isbn=9781848261266 }}
Related tests
A simplified and lightened bomb version (the EC-16) was prepared and scheduled to be tested in operation Castle Yankee, as a backup in case the non-cryogenic "Shrimp" fusion device (tested in Castle Bravo) failed to work; that test was canceled when the Bravo device was tested successfully, making the cryogenic designs obsolete.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}
Gallery
File:Ivy Mike (Eniwetok-Atoll - 31. Oktober 1952).jpg
File:Ivy Mike 002.jpg
File:Ivy Mike fallout map.png|Nuclear fallout map of Mike test.
File:Ivy Mike fireball.jpg|Mike fireball.
File:Enewetak Atoll 2005-09-01, EO-1 bands 10-8-2-1.png|Mike test crater, relative to Enewetak Atoll.
File:Ivy Mike overshooting top.jpg|Mike mushroom cloud central stem's updraft tropopause overshoots.
See also
- History of nuclear weapons
- Operation Castle
- RDS-6s – first Soviet thermonuclear test, coming less than a year later
Notes
{{reflist|group=note}}
References
{{reflist|30em|refs=
{{cite book | last1 = Herken | first1 = Gregg | author-link1 = Gregg Herken | date = 2002 | chapter = Notes for Chapter Fourteen 'A Bad Business Now Threatening'| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/brotherhoodofbom0000herk_v0x5/page/391/mode/1up | chapter-url-access = registration | title = Brotherhood of the Bomb: The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence and Edward Teller | url = https://archive.org/details/brotherhoodofbom0000herk_v0x5 | url-access = registration | language = en-us | edition = 1st | publisher = Henry Holt and Company | isbn = 978-0-80-506588-6 | lccn = 2002017219 | oclc = 890256840 | ol = OL7932650M | access-date = 2021-11-10 | via = Internet Archive | quote = Mike was meant to be a proof-of-principle test of radiation implosion, and not a deliverable bomb. Housed in a six-story building, weighing more than 80 tons, the cryogenically-cooled device was later described disdainfully by the Russians as a "thermonuclear installation." | quote-page = 391 | df = dmy-all}}
{{cite tech report | last1 = Gladeck | first1 = F. R. | last2 = Hallowell | first2 = J. H. | last3 = Martin |first3 = E. J. | last4 = McMullan | first4 = F. W. | last5 = Miller | first5 = R. H. | last6 = Pozega | first6 = R. | last7 = Rogers | first7 = W. E. | last8 = Rowland | first8 = R. H. | last9 = Shelton | first9 = C. F. | last10 = Berkhouse |first10 = L. | last11 = Davis |first11 = S. | last12 = Doyle |first12 = M. K. | last13 = Jones |first13 = C. B. | display-authors = 5 | others = | name-list-style = | date = 1982-12-01 | title = Operation Ivy: 1952 | number = DNA 6036F | institution = Defense Nuclear Agency | url = https://www.dtra.mil/Portals/61/Documents/NTPR/2-Hist_Rpt_Atm/1952_DNA_6036F.pdf | url-status = live | format = pdf | language = en-us | location = Washington, D.C. | page = | pages = | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210822185725/https://www.dtra.mil/Portals/61/Documents/NTPR/2-Hist_Rpt_Atm/1952_DNA_6036F.pdf | archive-date = 2021-08-22 | access-date = 2021-11-10 | quote = | quote-page = | quote-pages = | df = dmy-all}}
{{cite journal | date = 2015-07-01 | editor1-last = Dillingham | editor1-first = Clay | title = Atomic Photography: Blasts From The Past | url = https://www.lanl.gov/discover/publications/national-security-science/2015-july/_assets/doc/NSS-july-2015.pdf | journal = National Security Science | language = en-us | publisher = Los Alamos National Laboratory | volume = 15 | issue = 5 | pages = 16–21 | access-date = 2021-11-10 | df = dmy-all}}
{{cite magazine | last1 = Fabry | first1 = Merrill | date = 2015-11-02 | title = What the First H-Bomb Test Looked Like | url = https://time.com/4096424/ivy-mike-history/ | url-access = limited | url-status = live | format = | department = History | magazine = Time | language = en | volume = 186 | issue = 16 | issn = 0040-781X | oclc = 1311479 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210904052722/https://time.com/4096424/ivy-mike-history/ | archive-date = 2021-09-04 | access-date = 2021-11-10 | quote = At 7:15 a.m. local time on Elugelab Island, Mike was detonated from a control ship 30 m. away. The detonation resulted in a massive explosion, equivalent to 10.4 Megatons of TNT. | df = dmy-all}}
}}
Further reading
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book | last1 = Hansen | first1 = Chuck | author-link1 = Chuck Hansen | date = 1988-03-20 | title = U.S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History | url = https://archive.org/details/usnuclearweapons0000hans | url-access = registration | language = en-us | edition = 1st | publisher = Crown | isbn = 978-0517567401 | lccn = 87021995 | oclc = 865554459 | ol = OL2392513M | access-date = 2021-11-10 | via = Internet Archive | df = dmy-all}}
{{refend}}
External links
{{Commons category|Ivy Mike}}
- {{Internet Archive film|id=OperationIVY1952_201501|name=Operation IVY}} – formerly classified.
- [http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20120206122658/http://www.sonicbomb.com/modules.php?name%3DContent%26pa%3Dshowpage%26pid%3D184 Sonicbomb.com: "Ivy Mike test" video]
- [https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/AD0363641 Technical Photography on Operation Ivy by EG&G] – {{cite web|url= http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=AD0363641 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150614130131/http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=AD0363641 |url-status= dead |archive-date= June 14, 2015 |title=Full Text }} {{small|(5.5 MB)}}
{{coord|11|40|0|N|162|11|13|E|type:landmark|display=title}}
{{Nuclear weapons tests of the United States}}
Category:Enewetak Atoll nuclear explosive tests
Category:1952 in military history
Category:1952 in the environment
Category:1950s in the Marshall Islands
Category:1952 in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands