1958 Soviet nuclear tests explained

1958
Picture Description:	Nuclear blast animation
Country:	Soviet Union
Test Site:	Ground Zero, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan; NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia; Western Kazakhstan
Period:	1958
Number Of Tests:	36
Test Type:	air drop, atmospheric, high alt rocket (30 - 80 km)
Max Yield:	2.9MtTNT
Next Series:	1961 Soviet nuclear tests

The Soviet Union's 1958 nuclear test series was a group of 36 nuclear tests conducted in 1958. These tests followed the 1957 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1961 Soviet nuclear tests series.

Soviet Union's 1958 series tests and detonations
- !style="background:#ffdead;"	Name ^[1] !style="background:#efefef;"	Date time (UT) !style="background:#ffdead;"	Local time zone^[2] ^[3] !style="background:#efefef;"	Location^[4] !style="background:#ffdead;"	Elevation + height ^[5] !style="background:#efefef;"	Delivery, ^[6] Purpose ^[7] !style="background:#efefef;"	Device^[8] !style="background:#ffdead;"	Yield^[9] !style="background:#efefef;" class="unsortable"	Fallout^[10] !style="background:#ffdead;" class="unsortable"	References !style="background:#efefef;" class="unsortable"	Notes	- ! 50 (Joe 44)		ALMT (6 hrs)	Ground Zero, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan ~ 50.4°N 77.8°W	280m (920feet) + 400m (1,300feet)	air drop, weapons development						- ! 51 (Joe 45)		ALMT (6 hrs)	Ground Zero, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan ~ 50.4°N 77.8°W	N/A + 500m (1,600feet)	atmospheric, weapons development						- ! 52 (Joe 46)		MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 74.3°N 53.8°W	0 + 2500m (8,200feet)	air drop, weapons development	warhead-2 NGB? TN					- ! 53 (Joe 47)	07:59:??	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 74.4°N 53.6°W	0 + 2500m (8,200feet)	air drop, weapons development	TN					- ! 54 (Joe 48)	10:24:??	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 74.3°N 54°W	0 +	air drop, weapons development	warhead-1 TN					- ! 55 (Joe 49)		ALMT (6 hrs)	Ground Zero, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan ~ 50.4°N 77.8°W	280m (920feet) + 475m (1,558feet)	air drop, weapons development						- ! unnumbered #2		ALMT (6 hrs)	Ground Zero, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan ~ 50.4°N 77.8°W	280m (920feet) +	atmospheric,						- ! 56 (Joe 51)		ALMT (6 hrs)	Ground Zero, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan ~ 50.4°N 77.8°W	280m (920feet) + 1030m (3,380feet)	air drop, weapons development						- ! 57 (Joe 50)		MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 74.25°N 54.33°W	0 +	air drop, fundamental science						- ! 58 (Joe 52)		ALMT (6 hrs)	Ground Zero, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan ~ 50.4°N 77.8°W	280m (920feet) + 965m (3,166feet)	air drop, weapons development						- ! unnumbered #3		ALMT (6 hrs)	Ground Zero, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan ~ 50.4°N 77.8°W	280m (920feet) +	atmospheric,						- ! 59		ALMT (6 hrs)	Ground Zero, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan ~ 50.4°N 77.8°W	280m (920feet) + 290m (950feet)	air drop, fundamental science						- ! 60 (Joe 53)		ALMT (6 hrs)	Ground Zero, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan ~ 50.4°N 77.8°W	280m (920feet) + 1015m (3,330feet)	air drop, weapons development						- ! 61 (Joe 54)		MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 74°N 60°W	0 + 2500m (8,200feet)	air drop, weapons development	TN					- ! 62 (Joe 55)		ALMT (6 hrs)	Ground Zero, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan ~ 50.4°N 77.8°W	280m (920feet) + 1415m (4,642feet)	air drop, weapons development						- ! 63 (Joe 56)	07:50:??	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 73.75°N 54.75°W	0 + 1500m (4,900feet)	air drop, weapons development	TN					- ! 64 (Joe 57)	09:55:??	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 73.4°N 55°W	0 + 2500m (8,200feet)	air drop, weapons development	TN					- ! 65 (Joe 58)	08:00:??	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia ~ 73°N 55°W	0 + 1620m (5,320feet)	atmospheric, weapons development	TN					- ! 66 (Joe 59)	09:01:??	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 73.63°N 57.5°W	0 +	atmospheric, fundamental science						- ! 67 (Joe 60)		MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia ~ 73°N 55°W	0 + 800m (2,600feet)	atmospheric, weapons development						- ! 68 (Joe 61)	06:00:??	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia ~ 73°N 55°W	0 + 1200m (3,900feet)	atmospheric, weapons development						- ! 69 (Joe 62)		MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia ~ 73°N 55°W	0 + 1200m (3,900feet)	air drop, weapons development						- ! 70 (Joe 63)	07:51:??	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 73.63°N 54.25°W	0 +	air drop, weapons development	TN					- ! 71 (Joe 64)	07:53:34	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 74.93°N 53.32°W	0 +	air drop, weapons development	warhead-1 TN					- ! 72 (Joe 65)	07:51:14	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 74°N 51.8°W	0 + 2150m (7,050feet)	air drop, weapons development	TN					- ! 73 (Joe 66)	09:51:06	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 73.97°N 52.47°W	0 +	air drop, weapons development	TN					- ! 75 (Joe 67)		MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia ~ 73°N 55°W	0 + 900m (3,000feet)	air drop, weapons development						- ! 74	07:27:??	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia ~ 73°N 55°W	0 +	air drop, fundamental science					A fizzle.	- ! 76 (Joe 68)	08:20:??	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 73.58°N 54.3°W	0 +	air drop, weapons development	TN					- ! 77 (Joe 69)		MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia ~ 73°N 55°W	0 + 570m (1,870feet)	air drop, weapons development						- ! 78 (Joe 70)	08:21:04	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 73.53°N 53.1°W	0 + 2070m (6,790feet)	air drop, weapons development	TN					- ! 79 (Joe 71)	08:03:06	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 73.68°N 54.97°W	0 + 1525m (5,003feet)	air drop, weapons development	warhead-2 NGB? TN					- ! 81		MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia ~ 73°N 55°W	0 + 300m (1,000feet)	air drop, fundamental science						- ! 80 (Joe 72)	08:20:??	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area C, Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, Russia 74°N 55°W	0 + 1500m (4,900feet)	air drop, weapons development	TN					- ! 82 (Joe 73)		URAT (5 hrs)	Launch from Kapustin Yar, Astrakhan 48.5696°N 45.9035°W, elv: 0m+0mm (00feet+00feetm); Detonation over Western Kazakhstan ~ 49.3°N 48°W	N/A +	high alt rocket (30 - 80 km), weapon effect					Fired after agreed upon end of testing, caused Eisenhower to formally abrogate unilateral test ban, but US maintained ban anyway. R-5M rocket.	- ! 83 (Joe 74)		URAT (5 hrs)	Launch from Kapustin Yar, Astrakhan 48.5696°N 45.9035°W, elv: 0m+0mm (00feet+00feetm); Detonation over Western Kazakhstan ~ 49.3°N 48°W	N/A +	high alt rocket (30 - 80 km), weapon effect					Fired after agreed upon end of testing, caused Eisenhower to formally abrogate unilateral test ban, but US maintained ban anyway. R-5M rocket.

Notes and References

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.
Web site: Time Zone Historical Database. iana.com. March 8, 2014.
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 4.184 gigajoules (1 gigacalorie).
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.