1973 Soviet nuclear tests explained

See also: List of nuclear weapons tests of the Soviet Union.

1973
Picture Description:Nuclear blast animation
Country:Soviet Union
Test Site:Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan; Bashkortostan, Russia; Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan; NZ Area A, Chyornaya Guba, Novaya Zemlya, Russia; NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia; Orenburg, Russia; Sary-Uzen/Murzhik, Semipalatinsk.
Period:1973
Number Of Tests:17
Test Type:underground shaft, tunnel
Max Yield:4MtTNT
Next Series:1974 Soviet nuclear tests

The Soviet Union's 1973 nuclear test series was a group of 17 nuclear tests conducted in 1973. These tests [1] followed the 1972 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1974 Soviet nuclear tests series.

Soviet Union's 1973 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 - ! 379 05:03:00.0 ALMT (6 hrs)
Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 113 49.8061°N 78.1034°W 768m (2,520feet) + tunnel,
weapons development 		- ! 380 04:32:59.92 ALMT (6 hrs)
Sary-Uzen/Murzhik, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 131 49.9844°N 77.6278°W 460m (1,510feet) + underground shaft,
weapons development 		- ! 381 - 1 01:27:00.15 ALMT (6 hrs)
Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 806 49.773°N 78.0451°W 684m (2,244feet) + tunnel,
weapons development 		- ! 381 - 2 01:27:00.2 ALMT (6 hrs)
Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 806 49.773°N 78.0451°W 684m (2,244feet) + tunnel,
weapons development 		- ! 381 - 3 01:27:00.2 ALMT (6 hrs)
Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 806 49.773°N 78.0451°W 684m (2,244feet) + tunnel,
safety experiment 		- ! 382 01:23:00.16 ALMT (6 hrs)
Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1066 49.9689°N 78.8175°W 330m (1,080feet) – 465m (1,526feet) underground shaft,
peaceful research 		Venting detected Seismic probing program. 110 km E Arkalyk. - ! 385 - 1 06:59:54.81 MSK (3 hrs)
NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: V-1 or A-1 73.3282°N 54.9749°W 100m (300feet) – 1500m (4,900feet) tunnel,
weapons development 		Venting detected off site, 15Ci This blast lead to a landslide of 80 million tons of rock on Novaya Zemlya. - ! 385 - 2 06:59:54.8 MSK (3 hrs)
NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: V-1 or A-1 73.3244°N 54.962°W 100m (300feet) + tunnel,
weapons development 		- ! 385 - 3 06:59:54.8 MSK (3 hrs)
NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: V-1 or A-1 73.3311°N 54.9817°W 100m (300feet) + tunnel,
weapons development 		- ! 385 - 4 06:59:54.8 MSK (3 hrs)
NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: V-1 or A-1 73.3282°N 54.9749°W 100m (300feet) + tunnel,
weapons development 		Seismic probing program. 230 km SSE Dzheskazgan. - ! 387 ALMT (6 hrs)
Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1267 49.9617°N 78.8556°W 330m (1,080feet) + underground shaft,
weapons development 		- ! 388 07:00:01.12 MSK (3 hrs)
NZ Area A, Chyornaya Guba, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: Yu-4 70.7927°N 53.8338°W 30m (100feet) – 880m (2,890feet) underground shaft,
fundamental science 		Venting detected, 10Ci - ! 389 Sapfir (Sapphire) 05:00:00.4 SVET (5 hrs)
Orenburg, Russia: E-3 51.6513°N 54.5526°W – 1145m (3,757feet) underground shaft,
cavity excavation 		Seismic probing program. - ! 391 04:27:00.14 ALMT (6 hrs)
Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 205 49.7469°N 78.132°W 575m (1,886feet) + tunnel,
weapon effect 		- ! 390 Kama 2 05:59:59.5 SVET (5 hrs)
Bashkortostan, Russia: Kama-2 53.65°N 55.4°W – 2030m (6,660feet) underground shaft,
cavity excavation 		Oil and chemical waste water burial. - ! 392 07:00:00.61 MSK (3 hrs)
NZ Area A, Chyornaya Guba, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: Yu-1 70.84°N 54.05°W 30m (100feet) – 1900m (6,200feet) underground shaft,
weapons development 		Highest yield shaft explosion. - ! 393 03:57:00.0 ALMT (6 hrs)
Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1069 50.0685°N 78.9333°W 330m (1,080feet) + underground shaft,
weapons development 		Venting detected - ! 394 07:46:59.67 ALMT (6 hrs)
Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1064 50.0483°N 78.9864°W 330m (1,080feet) + underground shaft,
weapons development 		- ! 395 04:03:00.0 ALMT (6 hrs)
Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 21p 49.7437°N 78.0836°W 676m (2,218feet) – 157m (515feet) tunnel,
weapons development

Notes and References

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Web site: Time Zone Historical Database. iana.com. March 8, 2014.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. Include weapons development, weapon effects, safety test, transport safety test, war, science, joint verification and industrial/peaceful, which may be further broken down.
  9. 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.
  10. Estimated energy yield in tons, kilotons, and megatons. A ton of TNT equivalent is defined as 4.184 gigajoules (1 gigacalorie).
  11. 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.

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