1972 Soviet nuclear tests explained

1972
Picture Description:	Nuclear blast animation
Country:	Soviet Union
Test Site:	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan; Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan; Kharkiv, Ukraine; Kostanay, Kazakhstan; Murmansk, Russia; NZ Area A, Chyornaya Guba, Novaya Zemlya, Russia; NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia; Orenburg, Russia; Sary-Uzen/Murzhik, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan; Turkmenistan
Period:	1972
Number Of Tests:	23
Test Type:	underground shaft, tunnel
Max Yield:	1.1MtTNT
Next Series:	1973 Soviet nuclear tests

The Soviet Union's 1972 nuclear test series was a group of 24 nuclear tests conducted in 1972. These tests ^[1] followed the 1971 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1973 Soviet nuclear tests series.

Soviet Union's 1972 series tests and detonations
- !style="background:#ffdead;"	Name ^[2] !style="background:#efefef;"	Date time (UT) !style="background:#ffdead;"	Local time zone^[3] ^[4] !style="background:#efefef;"	Location^[5] !style="background:#ffdead;"	Elevation + height ^[6] !style="background:#efefef;"	Delivery, ^[7] Purpose ^[8] !style="background:#efefef;"	Device^[9] !style="background:#ffdead;"	Yield^[10] !style="background:#efefef;" class="unsortable"	Fallout^[11] !style="background:#ffdead;" class="unsortable"	References !style="background:#efefef;" class="unsortable"	Notes	- ! 355	05:03:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1007 50.025°N 78.8773°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development			Venting detected			- ! 356 - 1	04:56:59.8	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 201 49.7453°N 78.1197°W	672m (2,205feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 356 - 2	04:56:59.8	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 201 49.7453°N 78.1197°W	672m (2,205feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 357 - 1	04:22:00.1	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 191 49.7331°N 78.0757°W	655m (2,149feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 357 - 2	04:22:00.1	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 191 49.7331°N 78.0757°W	655m (2,149feet) +	tunnel, peaceful research						- ! 357 - 3	04:22:00.1	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 191 49.7331°N 78.0757°W	655m (2,149feet) +	tunnel, safety experiment						- ! 358 Krator (Crater)	06:00:01.9	ASHT (5 hrs)	Turkmenistan: ? 36.5617°N 62.8135°W	– 1720m (5,640feet)	underground shaft, extinguishing oil/gas fires					Gas fire shaft closure.	- ! 359		ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 505p 49.8435°N 78.1051°W	587m (1,926feet) +	tunnel, safety experiment						- ! 360	01:28:??	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 110 49.8267°N 78.1155°W	618m (2,028feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 361	01:28:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 601 49.7709°N 77.9914°W	620m (2,030feet) +	tunnel, weapon effect						- ! 362	01:03:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 157-M 49.7375°N 78.1101°W	650m (2,130feet) +	tunnel, weapon effect						- ! 363 Fakel (Torch)	07:00:01.3	MSK (3 hrs)	Kharkiv, Ukraine: ? 49.4797°N 35.4947°W	– 2483m (8,146feet)	underground shaft, extinguishing oil/gas fires					Gas fire shaft closure. 15 km N Krasnodar, Ukraine.	- ! 364	10:00:??	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area A, Chyornaya Guba, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: Yu-3 70.83°N 54.15°W	30m (100feet) +	underground shaft, fundamental science					Did not register seismically; may have been a fizzle.	- ! 365	03:16:59.8	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 708 49.7655°N 78.0588°W	555m (1,821feet) +	tunnel, weapon effect						- ! 367	03:46:59.7	ALMT (6 hrs)	Sary-Uzen/Murzhik, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 132 49.9823°N 77.716°W	460m (1,510feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 368 - 1	05:59:56.87	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-16 73.388°N 54.847°W	100m (300feet) – 900m (3,000feet)	tunnel, weapons development			Venting detected off site, 1MCi			- ! 368 - 2	05:59:56.9	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-16 73.388°N 54.847°W	100m (300feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 368 - 3	05:59:56.9	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-16 73.388°N 54.847°W	100m (300feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 368 - 4	05:59:56.9	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-16 73.388°N 54.847°W	100m (300feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 369	08:56:59.9	ALMT (6 hrs)	Sary-Uzen/Murzhik, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 128 49.96°N 77.6415°W	460m (1,510feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 370 Dnepr 1	07:00:00.0	MSK (3 hrs)	Murmansk, Russia: Dnepr-1 67.7911°N 33.6082°W	– 130m (430feet)	tunnel, industrial					Ore crushing technology. Used methods developed in shots 366 and 415 to keep radioactivity out of broken ore body.	- ! 371 Region 1	09:00:00.3	SVET (5 hrs)	Orenburg, Russia: R-1 52.118°N 52.068°W	– 490m (1,610feet)	underground shaft, seismic sounding					Seismic probing program. 21 km SSW Buzuluk.	- ! 373	01:27:00.2	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1061 49.927°N 78.8173°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 374 Region 2	09:00:00.0	SVET (5 hrs)	Orenburg, Russia: R-2 51.99°N 51.867°W	– 680m (2,230feet)	underground shaft, seismic sounding					Seismic probing program. 90 km SSW Buzuluk.	- ! 375 Region 5	10:00:00.2	ALMT (6 hrs)	Kostanay, Kazakhstan: R-5 51.8414°N 64.2133°W	– 425m (1,394feet)	underground shaft, seismic sounding					Seismic probing program. 170 km SSE Kustonay.	- ! 376 - 1	04:27:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: Z-2 49.8235°N 78.0786°W	660m (2,170feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 376 - 2	04:27:00	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 140 49.8194°N 78.0582°W	646m (2,119feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 377	04:27:10.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1204 50.0277°N 78.9955°W	330m (1,080feet) – 378m (1,240feet)	underground shaft, peaceful research			Venting detected			- ! 378	04:27:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 25pp 49.7421°N 78.1021°W	739m (2,425feet) +	tunnel, weapons development

Notes and References

A bomb test may be a salvo test, defined as two or more explosions "where a period of time between successive individual explosions does not exceed 5 seconds and where the burial points of all explosive devices can be connected by segments of straight lines, each of them connecting two burial points and does not exceed 40 kilometers in length". Web site: V. N.. Mikhailov. Catalog of World Wide Nuclear Testing. Begell-Atom, LLC. 2013-12-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20140426102201/http://www.iss-atom.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/1.htm. 2014-04-26. dead.
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. v
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.