Operation Tinderbox

{{Infobox nuclear weapons test

|name = Tinderbox

|picture = Huron King test chamber.jpg

|image_size= 320

|picture_description = Huron King test chamber

|country = United States

|test_site = {{plainlist|

NTS Area 19, 20, Pahute Mesa
NTS, Areas 1–4, 6–10, Yucca Flat}}

|period = 1979–1980

|number_of_tests = 14

|test_type = underground shaft

|max_yield = {{convert|140|ktTNT|lk=in}}

|previous_series = Operation Quicksilver

|next_series = Operation Guardian

}}

Operation Tinderbox was a series of 14 nuclear tests conducted by the United States in 1979–1980 at the Nevada Test Site. These tests followed the Operation Quicksilver series and preceded the Operation Guardian series.

List of the nuclear tests

File:434-SAN-A800302.jpg

class="wikitable sortable" \|+ United States' Tinderbox series tests and detonations
style="background:#ffdead;" \| Name 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. !style="background:#efefef;" \| Date time (UT) !style="background:#ffdead;" \| Local time zoneTo 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. v{{cite web\| title=Time Zone Historical Database\| publisher=iana.com\| url=http://www.ietf.org/timezones/\| access-date=March 8, 2014}} !style="background:#efefef;" \| LocationRough 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. !style="background:#ffdead;" \| Elevation + height 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. !style="background:#efefef;" \| Delivery 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. Purpose Include weapons development, weapon effects, safety test, transport safety test, war, science, joint verification and industrial/peaceful, which may be further broken down. !style="background:#efefef;" \| DeviceDesignations 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. !style="background:#ffdead;" \| YieldEstimated energy yield in tons, kilotons, and megatons. A ton of TNT equivalent is defined as 4.184 gigajoules (1 gigacalorie). !style="background:#efefef;" class="unsortable" \| FalloutRadioactive 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. !style="background:#ffdead;" class="unsortable" \| References !style="background:#efefef;" class="unsortable" \| Notes
Backgammon{{anchor\|Backgammon}} \| {{dts\|1979\|11\|29}} 15:00:00.096 \| style="text-align:center;" \| PST (–8 hrs) \|\| NTS Area U3jh {{coord\|36.99395
116.02484\|name=Backgammon\|display=inline}} \| {{sort\|000946

class="wikitable sortable"

|+ United States' Tinderbox series tests and detonations

style="background:#ffdead;" | Name 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.

!style="background:#efefef;" | Date time (UT)

!style="background:#ffdead;" | Local time zoneTo 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. v{{cite web| title=Time Zone Historical Database| publisher=iana.com| url=http://www.ietf.org/timezones/| access-date=March 8, 2014}}

!style="background:#efefef;" | LocationRough 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.

!style="background:#ffdead;" | Elevation + height 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.

!style="background:#efefef;" | Delivery 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.
Purpose Include weapons development, weapon effects, safety test, transport safety test, war, science, joint verification and industrial/peaceful, which may be further broken down.

!style="background:#efefef;" | DeviceDesignations 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.

!style="background:#ffdead;" | YieldEstimated energy yield in tons, kilotons, and megatons. A ton of TNT equivalent is defined as 4.184 gigajoules (1 gigacalorie).

!style="background:#efefef;" class="unsortable" | FalloutRadioactive 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.

!style="background:#ffdead;" class="unsortable" | References

!style="background:#efefef;" class="unsortable" | Notes

Backgammon{{anchor|Backgammon}}

| {{dts|1979|11|29}} 15:00:00.096

| style="text-align:center;" | PST (–8 hrs)
|| NTS Area U3jh {{coord|36.99395

116.02484|name=Backgammon|display=inline}}

| {{sort|000946

}{{convert|1175|m|abbr=on}} – {{convert|228.72|m|abbr=on}}

| underground shaft,
weapons development

| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000008000|800 t}}

! Azul{{anchor|Azul}}

| {{dts|1979|12|14}} 18:00:00.09

| style="text-align:center;" | PST (–8 hrs)
|| NTS Area U2em {{coord|37.13732|-116.06394|name=Azul|display=inline}}

| {{sort|001070|}}{{convert|1275|m|abbr=on}} – {{convert|205|m|abbr=on}}

| underground shaft,
weapons development

| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000000000|less than 20 kt}}

| Destroyed the Anvil/Peninsula device that was damaged during placement.

! Tarko{{anchor|Tarko}}

| {{dts|1980|2|28}} 15:00:00.093

| style="text-align:center;" | PST (–8 hrs)
|| NTS Area U2fd {{coord|37.12655|-116.08946|name=Tarko|display=inline}}

| {{sort|000911|}}{{convert|1280|m|abbr=on}} – {{convert|369|m|abbr=on}}

| underground shaft,
weapons development

| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000050000|5 kt}}

| Venting detected, {{convert|50|Ci|GBq|abbr=on}}

! Norbo{{anchor|Norbo}}

| {{dts|1980|3|8}} 15:35:00.09

| style="text-align:center;" | PST (–8 hrs)
|| NTS Area U8c {{coord|37.17989|-116.08399|name=Norbo|display=inline}}

| {{sort|001078|}}{{convert|1349|m|abbr=on}} – {{convert|271|m|abbr=on}}

| underground shaft,
weapons development

| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000010000|1 kt}}

| I-131 venting detected, 0

! Liptauer{{anchor|Liptauer}}

| {{dts|1980|4|3}} 14:00:00.089

| style="text-align:center;" | PST (–8 hrs)
|| NTS Area U2eh {{coord|37.14983|-116.08313|name=Liptauer|display=inline}}

| {{sort|000887|}}{{convert|1304|m|abbr=on}} – {{convert|417|m|abbr=on}}

| underground shaft,
weapons development

| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000200000|20 kt}}

! Pyramid{{anchor|Pyramid}}

| {{dts|1980|4|16}} 20:00:00.089

| style="text-align:center;" | PST (–8 hrs)
|| NTS Area U7be {{coord|37.10107|-116.0314|name=Pyramid|display=inline}}

| {{sort|000686|}}{{convert|1266|m|abbr=on}} – {{convert|579.1|m|abbr=on}}

| underground shaft,
weapons development

| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000890000|89 kt}}

! Canfield{{anchor|Canfield}}

| {{dts|1980|5|2}} 18:46:30.092

| style="text-align:center;" | PST (–8 hrs)
|| NTS Area U3kx {{coord|37.05598|-116.0197|name=Canfield|display=inline}}

| {{sort|000860|}}{{convert|1211|m|abbr=on}} – {{convert|350.5|m|abbr=on}}

| underground shaft,
weapons development

| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000060000|6 kt}}

! Flora{{anchor|Flora}}

| {{dts|1980|5|22}} 13:00:00.089

| style="text-align:center;" | PST (–8 hrs)
|| NTS Area U3lg {{coord|37.00304|-116.03214|name=Flora|display=inline}}

| {{sort|000843|}}{{convert|1179|m|abbr=on}} – {{convert|335.6|m|abbr=on}}

| underground shaft,
weapons development

| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000000000|less than 20 kt}}

| Venting detected, {{convert|1|kCi|TBq|abbr=on}}

! Kash{{anchor|Kash}}

| {{dts|1980|6|12}} 17:15:00.09

| style="text-align:center;" | PST (–8 hrs)
|| NTS Area U20af {{coord|37.2816|-116.45474|name=Kash|display=inline}}

| {{sort|001266|}}{{convert|1911|m|abbr=on}} – {{convert|645|m|abbr=on}}

| underground shaft,
weapons development

| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|001400000|140 kt}}

| Venting detected

! Huron King{{anchor|Huron King}}

| {{dts|1980|6|24}} 15:10:00.07

| style="text-align:center;" | PST (–8 hrs)
|| NTS Area U3ky {{coord|37.02328|-116.03491|name=Huron King|display=inline}}

| {{sort|000866|}}{{convert|1187|m|abbr=on}} – {{convert|320.04|m|abbr=on}}

| underground shaft,
weapon effect

| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000060000|6 kt}}

| Radiation and EMP effects shot through a mockup DSCS satellite on the surface, which was then towed off the collapsing cap. Picture of the test chamber. It is still on the NE lip of the test's crater.

! Tafi{{anchor|Tafi}}

| {{dts|1980|7|25}} 19:05:00.082

| style="text-align:center;" | PST (–8 hrs)
|| NTS Area U20ae {{coord|37.25627|-116.47829|name=Tafi|display=inline}}

| {{sort|001179|}}{{convert|1859|m|abbr=on}} – {{convert|680|m|abbr=on}}

| underground shaft,
weapons development

| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|001400000|140 kt}}

| Venting detected

! Verdello{{anchor|Verdello}}

| {{dts|1980|7|31}} 18:19:00.092

| style="text-align:center;" | PST (–8 hrs)
|| NTS Area U3ku {{coord|37.013|-116.02361|name=Verdello|display=inline}}

| {{sort|000817|}}{{convert|1183|m|abbr=on}} – {{convert|365.76|m|abbr=on}}

| underground shaft,
weapons development

| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000035000|3.5 kt}}

| Venting detected, {{convert|45|Ci|GBq|abbr=on}}

! Bonarda{{anchor|Bonarda}}

| {{dts|1980|9|25}} 14:45:00.094

| style="text-align:center;" | PST (–8 hrs)
|| NTS Area U3gv {{coord|37.05609|-116.0489|name=Bonarda|display=inline}}

| {{sort|000828|}}{{convert|1209|m|abbr=on}} – {{convert|381|m|abbr=on}}

| underground shaft,
weapons development

| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000200000|20 kt}}

! Riola{{anchor|Riola}}

| {{dts|1980|9|25}} 15:26:30.084

| style="text-align:center;" | PST (–8 hrs)
|| NTS Area U2eq {{coord|37.11684|-116.0659|name=Riola|display=inline}}

| {{sort|000830|}}{{convert|1254|m|abbr=on}} – {{convert|424|m|abbr=on}}

| underground shaft,
weapons development

| style="text-align:center;" | {{sort|000010700|1.1 kt}}

| Venting detected off site, {{convert|2.2|kCi|TBq|abbr=on}}

References

{{reflist|refs=

{{citation| last1=Yang| first1=Xiaoping| first2=Robert| last2=North| first3=Carl| last3=Romney| date=August 2000| title=CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3)| publisher=SMDC Monitoring Research}}

{{citation| publisher=Sandia National Laboratories| date=July 1, 1994| title=Official list of underground nuclear explosions| url=http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Nevada.html| access-date=December 18, 2013}}

{{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/20061012160826/http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/publications/historical/DOENV_209_REV15.pdf| archive-date=October 12, 2006}}

{{citation| publisher=DOE Nevada Operations Office| date=August 1996| title=Radiological Effluents Released from U.S. Continental Tests 1961 Through 1992 (DOE/NV-317 Rev. 1)| url=http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/publications/historical/DOENV_317.pdf| access-date=October 31, 2013| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103041622/http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/publications/historical/DOENV_317.pdf| archive-date=November 3, 2013}}

{{citation| publisher=Defense Nuclear Agency, Department of Defense| location=Washington, DC| title=Operation Argus, 1958| year=1982| type=DNA6039F| url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112075683737;view=1up;seq=11| access-date=November 26, 2013}}

{{citation| url=http://www.cancer.gov/i131/fallout/Chapter2.pdf| access-date=January 5, 2014| title=Estimated exposures and thyroid doses received by the American people from Iodine-131 in fallout following Nevada atmospheric nuclear bomb tests, Chapter 2| publisher=National Cancer Institute| year=1997}}

{{citation| last1=Hechanova| first1=Anthony E.| first2=James E.| last2=O'Donnell| date=September 25, 1998| title=Estimates of yield for nuclear tests impacting the groundwater at the Nevada Test Site| publisher=Nuclear Science and Technology Division}}

{{citation| url=http://www.nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests| access-date=January 6, 2014| last=Sublette| first=Carey| title=Nuclear Weapons Archive}}

}}

Category:Explosions in 1979

Category:Explosions in 1980

Category:1979 in military history

Category:1980 in military history

Tinderbox