Operation Teapot#MET
{{Short description|Series of 1950s US nuclear tests}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox nuclear weapons test
|name = Operation Teapot
|picture = Teapot MET.gif
|picture_description = Teapot-MET (Military Effects Test), 22-kilotons
|country = United States
|test_site = {{plainlist|
- NTS Areas 5, 11, Frenchman Flat
- NTS, Areas 1–4, 6–10, Yucca Flat}}
|period = 1955
|number_of_tests = 14
|test_type = cratering, free air drop, parachuted, tower
|max_yield = {{convert|43|ktTNT|lk=in}}
|previous_series = Operation Castle
|next_series = Operation Wigwam
}}
{{GeoGroup|article=Operation Teapot}}
Operation Teapot was a series of 14 nuclear test explosions conducted at the Nevada Test Site in the first half of 1955. It was preceded by Operation Castle, and followed by Operation Wigwam. Wigwam was, administratively, a part of Teapot, but it is usually treated as a class of its own. The aims of the operation were to establish military tactics for ground forces on a nuclear battlefield and to improve the nuclear weapons used for strategic delivery.{{cite web|title=For the Record – A History of the Nuclear Test Personnel Review Program, 1978–1993|url=http://www.dtra.mil/documents/ntpr/relatedpub/DNATR966041F.pdf|publisher=Department of Defense|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915201615/http://www.dtra.mil/documents/ntpr/relatedpub/DNATR966041F.pdf|archive-date=September 15, 2012|page=100|url-status=dead}}
Individual blasts
=Wasp=
During shot Wasp, ground forces took part in Exercise Desert Rock VI which included an armored task force Razor moving to within {{convert|900|m}} of ground zero, under the still-forming mushroom cloud.{{cite web|url=http://www.dtra.mil/documents/ntpr/historical/1955%20-%20DNA%206009F%20-%20Operation%20TEAPOT.pdf|title=Operation Teapot 1955|work=Nuclear Test Personnel Review|publisher=Department of Defense|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915201615/http://www.dtra.mil/documents/ntpr/relatedpub/DNATR966041F.pdf|archive-date=September 15, 2012|url-status=dead}}
=Bee=
An augmented test unit from the United States Marine Corps participated in shot Bee during the March 1955 exercises.
=MET=
The MET was the first bomb core to include uranium-233 (a rarely used fissile isotope that is the product of thorium-232 neutron absorption), along with plutonium; this was based on the plutonium/U-235 pit from the TX-7E, a prototype Mark 7 nuclear bomb design used in the 1951 Operation Buster-Jangle Easy test. It produced a yield of 22kt (comparable to the Fat Man plutonium-only weapon that exploded over Nagasaki), but significantly less than the expected amount. Since it was a military effects test, the DoD specified that the device should have a calibrated yield within 10% of ratings. However, weapon designers at Los Alamos substituted the experimental core without notifying the DoD. The unexpected lower yield, 33% less than the DoD expected, ruined many of the military's tests.{{cite web | url= http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Teapot.html | title= Operation Teapot |date= October 15, 1997 | work= Nuclear Weapon Archive | access-date= December 9, 2008 }} "The predicted yield was 33 kt. The actual 22 kt was 33% below this, seriously compromising the data collected." cf. "Nuclear Test Film - Operation Teapot" (linked below) ~17:30 "While the expected yield was 28 kilotons, radiochemical analysis indicated a yield closer to 22 kilotons."{{cite web | url= http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Busterj.html | title= Operation Buster-Jangle |date= October 15, 1997 | work= Nuclear Weapon Archive | access-date= March 18, 2012 }}
=Apple-2=
{{redirect|Doom Town|the card game|Doomtown}}
{{see also|Japanese Village (Dugway Proving Ground)|Nevada Test Site#Landmarks and geography}}
The Civil Defense Apple-2 shot on May 5, 1955 was intended to test various building construction types in a nuclear blast. An assortment of buildings, including residential houses and electrical substations, were constructed at the site nicknamed "Survival Town" by some and "Doom Town" by others.{{cite journal |last1=Tunc |first1=Tanfer Emin |title=Eating in Survival Town: Food in 1950s Atomic America |journal=Cold War History |date=3 April 2015 |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=179–200 |doi=10.1080/14682745.2014.950239|s2cid=153868990 }} The buildings were populated with mannequins, and stocked with different types of canned and packaged foods. Not all of the buildings were destroyed in the blast, and some of them still stand at Area 1, Nevada Test Site. A short film about the blast, referred to as "Operation Cue", was distributed by the Federal Civil Defense Administration. The houses are still standing at {{coord|37.04476|-116.07416|display=inline}}, at the east and west ends of the road loop. They are stops on the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) tour.
From declassified documents dated February to May 1956, the Apple-2 shot, as part of Operation Teapot Project 35.5 "Effects of Nuclear Explosion on Records and Records Storage Equipment" was staged on the Nevada Test Site to determine the effects of nuclear explosions on various types of records and record storage equipment.{{cite web|url=http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/1958-Operation-Teapot-Effects-of-Nuclear-Explosion-on-Records-and-Records-Storage-Equipment.pdf|title=Operation Teapot Project 35.5 Declassified|website=blog.nuclearsecrecy.com}}
Teapot series tests
| free air drop
| weapons development
|
| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000010000|1 kt}}
| I-131 venting detected, {{convert|160|kCi|TBq|abbr=on}}
| Air defense test. Light weight implosion system, {{convert|120|lb|abbr=on}} and {{convert|22|in|abbr=on}} across. Yield below predictions. Desert Rock VI.
|-
! Moth
| {{dts|1955|2|22}} 13:00:45.0
| style="text-align:center;" | PST (−8 h)
|| NTS Area 3 {{coord|37.0477|-116.022|name=Moth|display=inline}}
| {{sort|001320|}}{{convert|1230|m|abbr=on}} + {{convert|90|m|abbr=on}}
| tower
| weapons development
| XW-30 ?
| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000020000|2 kt}}
| I-131 venting detected, {{convert|320|kCi|TBq|abbr=on}}
| Proof test of XW30 air defense warhead.{{dubious|reason=This was the 22" development of the XW-25. The XW-30 would come later as a development of this. See Hansen.|date=July 2023}} Used an ENS (external neutron source) 'Zipper' initiator. Desert Rock VI.
|-
! Tesla
| {{dts|1955|3|1}} 13:00:30.3
| style="text-align:center;" | PST (−8 h)
|| NTS Area 9b {{coord|37.1255|-116.0484|name=Tesla|display=inline}}
| {{sort|001372|}}{{convert|1282|m|abbr=on}} + {{convert|90|m|abbr=on}}
| tower
| weapons development
| Cleo I
| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000070000|7 kt}}
| I-131 venting detected, {{convert|1.2|MCi|PBq|abbr=on}}
| First successful UCRL test; used linear implosion, ZIPPER initiator. Desert Rock VI.
|-
! Turk
| {{dts|1955|3|7}} 13:00:20.2
| style="text-align:center;" | PST (−8 h)
|| NTS Area 2 {{coord|37.1383|-116.1184|name=Turk|display=inline}}
| {{sort|001520|}}{{convert|1370|m|abbr=on}} + {{convert|150|m|abbr=on}}
| tower
| weapons development
| XW-27D "Linda" lightweight secondary {{cite web |last1=Ramos |first1=Tom |title=Harold Brown and the Linda |url=https://physicsandhistory.com/2020/06/03/harold-brown-and-the-linda/ |website=Physics Told Through History |date=June 4, 2020 |access-date=9 June 2022 |ref=Linda |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604093055/https://physicsandhistory.com/2020/06/03/harold-brown-and-the-linda/ |archive-date=2020-06-04}}
| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000430000|43 kt}}
| I-131 venting detected, {{convert|6.4|MCi|PBq|abbr=on}}
| Test of primary for XW-27 class D, lightweight thermonuke, in an XW-27 mockup. Desert Rock VI.
|-
! Hornet
| {{dts|1955|3|12}} 13:19:59.8
| style="text-align:center;" | PST (−8 h)
|| NTS Area 3a {{coord|37.0402|-116.0261|name=Hornet|display=inline}}
| {{sort|001314|}}{{convert|1224|m|abbr=on}} + {{convert|90|m|abbr=on}}
| tower
| weapons development
| XW-30 ?
| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000040000|4 kt}}
| I-131 venting detected, {{convert|620|kCi|TBq|abbr=on}}
| Boosted XW-30. A sealed pit D-T gas boost design, with ZIPPER initiator.
|-
! Bee
| {{dts|1955|3|22}} 13:04:59.9
| style="text-align:center;" | PST (−8 h)
|| NTS Area 7 {{coord|37.0947|-116.0248|name=Bee|display=inline}}
| {{sort|001444|}}{{convert|1294|m|abbr=on}} + {{convert|150|m|abbr=on}}
| tower
| weapons development
| XW-25 ?
| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000080000|8 kt}}
| I-131 venting detected, {{convert|1.2|MCi|PBq|abbr=on}}
| LASL sealed pit D-T gas boosted design, with ZIPPER initiator. Desert Rock VI.
|-
! ESS
| {{dts|1955|3|23}} 20:00:30.0
| style="text-align:center;" | PST (−8 h)
|| NTS Area 10 {{coord|37.1683|-116.0448|name=ESS|display=inline}}
| {{sort|001278|}}{{convert|1298|m|abbr=on}} - {{convert|20|m|abbr=on}}
| cratering
| weapon effect
| Mk-6 HE
| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000010000|1 kt}}
| I-131 venting detected, {{convert|140|kCi|TBq|abbr=on}}
| "Effects Sub-surface". Test for ADM (Atomic Demolition Munition). Desert Rock VI.
|-
! Apple-1
| {{dts|1955|3|29}} 12:00:55.1
| style="text-align:center;" | PST (−8 h)
|| NTS Area 4 {{coord|37.0955|-116.1037|name=Apple-1|display=inline}}
| {{sort|001467|}}{{convert|1317|m|abbr=on}} + {{convert|150|m|abbr=on}}
| tower
| weapons development
|
| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000140000|14 kt}}
| I-131 venting detected, {{convert|2|MCi|PBq|abbr=on}}
| Primary failed; expected 40 kt. Desert Rock VI.
|-
! Wasp Prime
| {{dts|1955|3|29}} 17:59:54.8
| style="text-align:center;" | PST (−8 h)
|| NTS Area 7 {{coord|37.0866|-116.0586|name=Wasp Prime|display=inline}}
| {{sort|001491|}}{{convert|1261|m|abbr=on}} + {{convert|230|m|abbr=on}}
| free air drop
| weapons development
|
| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000032000|3.2 kt}}
| I-131 venting detected, {{convert|450|kCi|TBq|abbr=on}}
| Repeat of Wasp. Desert Rock VI.
|-
! HA
| {{dts|1955|4|6}} 18:00:04.1
| style="text-align:center;" | PST (−8 h)
|| NTS Area 1 {{coord|37.0286|-116.0586|name=HA|display=inline}}
| {{sort|012440|}}{{convert|1280|m|abbr=on}} + {{convert|11.16|km}}
| parachuted
| weapon effect
|
| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000032000|3.2 kt}}
| I-131 venting detected, {{convert|450|kCi|TBq|abbr=on}}
| Last airdrop over continental U.S. "High altitude" test of air-air missile warhead similar to Wasp Prime; parachute retarded (only one at NTS).
|-
! Post
| {{dts|1955|4|9}} 12:00:30.2
| style="text-align:center;" | PST (−8 h)
|| NTS Area 9 {{coord|37.1226|-116.0347|name=Post|display=inline}}
| {{sort|001384|}}{{convert|1294|m|abbr=on}} + {{convert|90|m|abbr=on}}
| tower
| weapons development
| Cleo II
| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000020000|2 kt}}
| I-131 venting detected, {{convert|340|kCi|TBq|abbr=on}}
| LLNL Linear implosion. ENS initiated.
|-
! MET
| {{dts|1955|4|15}} 19:00:15.3
| style="text-align:center;" | PST (−8 h)
|| NTS Area 5 {{coord|36.798|-115.9298|name=MET|display=inline}}
| {{sort|001060|}}{{convert|940|m|abbr=on}} + {{convert|120|m|abbr=on}}
| tower
| weapon effect
|
| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000220000|22 kt}}
| I-131 venting detected, {{convert|3.1|MCi|PBq|abbr=on}}
| "Military Effects Tower". Supposed to be a standard effects test, LASL clandestinely substituted experimental U233/Pu core, thus undershot estimated yield by a third. Desert Rock VI.
|-
! Apple-2
| {{dts|1955|5|5}} 12:00:10.0
| style="text-align:center;" | PST (−8 h)
|| NTS Area 1 {{coord|37.053|-116.1034|name=Apple-2|display=inline}}
| {{sort|001444|}}{{convert|1294|m|abbr=on}} + {{convert|150|m|abbr=on}}
| tower
| weapons development
|
| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000290000|29 kt}}
| I-131 venting detected, {{convert|4.1|MCi|PBq|abbr=on}}
| Retry of Apple-1. Desert Rock VI. Operation Cue, civil defense exercise.
|-
! Zucchini
| {{dts|1955|5|15}} 11:59:59.9
| style="text-align:center;" | PST (−8 h)
|| NTS Area 7 {{coord|37.0947|-116.0248|name=Zucchini|display=inline}}
| {{sort|001444|}}{{convert|1294|m|abbr=on}} + {{convert|150|m|abbr=on}}
| tower
| weapons development
|
| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000280000|28 kt}}
| I-131 venting detected, {{convert|4|MCi|PBq|abbr=on}}
| Test of Class D primary/secondary system.
|}
Table notes:
{{reflist|group=note}}
Gallery
TeapotHornet.gif|Teapot-Hornet, 4-kilotons
File:TeapotBee.gif|Teapot-Bee, 8-kilotons
File:TeapotTurk.gif|Teapot-Turk, 43-kilotons
File:TeapotTurkClose.gif|Teapot-Turk, close-up of fireball within first few milliseconds of detonations
File:Teapot Moth 001.jpg|Teapot-Moth, 2-kilotons
File:TeapotESS.gif|"Effects Sub-surface". Test for ADM (Atomic Demolition Munition)
File:Operation Teapot - Ess.jpg|Teapot-ESS, 1-kiloton
File:NNSA-NSO-371.jpg|One of the shot-towers of the Teapot test, unknown device
File:Operation Teapot Colorised - MET (Military Effects Test).jpg|Teapot-MET (Military Effects Test), 22-kilotons
See also
References
{{reflist|refs=
}}
{{refbegin}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20130408131813/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=AD0340137 Operation Teapot Project 5.4 Evaluation of fireball lethality using basic missile structures(C)]
{{refend}}
External links
{{Commonscat}}
- {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.archives.arc.2569578|name=Big Picture: The Atom Soldier}}
- {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.doe.0800017|name=Nuclear Test Film – Operation Teapot (1954)}}
- {{Internet Archive short film|id=Operatio1955|name=Operation Cue (1955) }}
- {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.archives.arc.2569661|name=Big Picture: Individual Protection Against Atomic Attack}}
- NPR web page: effect on commercial beverages [https://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/09/18/161338723/u-s-explodes-atomic-bombs-near-beers-to-see-if-they-are-safe-to-drink]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYbNlgQyz84 YouTube – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL): "Operation Teapot − Turk 28112" video]
- [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvGO_dWo8VfcmG166wKRy5z-GlJ_OQND5 YouTube – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Channel: LLNL Atmospheric Nuclear Tests website] – all uploaded LLNL videos of tests between 1945 and 1962, including 28 of Operation Teapot.
{{Nuclear weapons tests of the United States}}
Category:1955 in military history
Category:1955 in the environment