1974 Soviet nuclear tests explained

1974
Picture Description:	Nuclear blast animation
Country:	Soviet Union
Test Site:	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan; Bashkortostan, Russia; Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan; Komi, Russia; NZ Area A, Chyornaya Guba, Novaya Zemlya, Russia; NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia; Sakha, Russia; Sary-Uzen/Murzhik, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan; Yamalo-Nenets, Russia
Period:	1974
Number Of Tests:	21
Test Type:	underground shaft, tunnel
Max Yield:	2.3MtTNT
Next Series:	1975 Soviet nuclear tests

The Soviet Union's 1974 nuclear test series was a group of 21 nuclear tests conducted in 1974. These tests ^[1] followed the 1973 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1975 Soviet nuclear tests series.

Soviet Union's 1974 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	- ! 396 - 1	04:57:04.6	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 603 49.8158°N 78.0401°W	677m (2,221feet) +	tunnel, weapon effect						- ! 396 - 2	04:57:04.6	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 603 49.8158°N 78.0401°W	677m (2,221feet) +	tunnel, weapon effect						- ! 396 - 3	04:57:04.6	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 603 49.8158°N 78.0401°W	677m (2,221feet) +	tunnel, weapon effect						- ! 397		ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 110 49.8286°N 78.1132°W	618m (2,028feet) +	tunnel, safety experiment						- ! 398	05:52:59.84	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1301 50.0244°N 78.9264°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development			Venting detected			- ! 399	03:03:00.1	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 176 49.7459°N 78.0374°W	652m (2,139feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 400	03:27:00.02	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1207 49.9615°N 78.8425°W	330m (1,080feet) – 316m (1,037feet)	underground shaft, peaceful research			Venting detected		Up to 127 observers washed with radioactive emissions, some perhaps to 100-200 REM.	- ! 401	03:57:00.2	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: Z-1pp 49.8283°N 78.1063°W	630m (2,070feet) +	tunnel, weapon effect						- ! 402 Kama 1	06:00:00.0	SVET (5 hrs)	Bashkortostan, Russia: Kama-1 53.7°N 55.1°W	– 2130m (6,990feet)	underground shaft, cavity excavation					Oil and chemical waste water burial. 22 km W Salavat.	- ! 403	02:57:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 195 49.7791°N 78.1027°W	600m (2,000feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 404	03:28:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1050 49.9375°N 78.9358°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 405 Gorizont 2 (Horizon)	15:00:00.2	SVET (5 hrs)	Yamalo-Nenets, Russia: G-2 68.903°N 75.823°W	– 550m (1,800feet)	underground shaft, seismic sounding					Seismic probing program. 190 km NW Tazovsky, Tumen.	- ! 407 - 1	09:59:56.2	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-11 73.397°N 54.905°W	100m (300feet) – 1000m (3,000feet)	tunnel, weapons development			Venting detected off site, 4.9kCi			- ! 407 - 2	09:59:56.2	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-11 73.397°N 54.905°W	100m (300feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 407 - 3	09:59:56.2	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-11 73.397°N 54.905°W	100m (300feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 407 - 4	09:59:56.2	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-11 73.397°N 54.905°W	100m (300feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 407 - 5	09:59:56.2	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-11 73.397°N 54.905°W	100m (300feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 406 Gorizont 1 (Horizon)	15:00:00.4	MSK (3 hrs)	Komi, Russia: G-1 67.0856°N 62.624°W	– 590m (1,940feet)	underground shaft, seismic sounding					Seismic probing program.	- ! 408	03:03:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 179 49.7653°N 78.0549°W	690m (2,260feet) +	tunnel, weapon effect						- ! 409 Kristall (Crystal)	01:00:01.1	YAKT (9 hrs)	Sakha, Russia 66.4572°N 112.3988°W	305m (1,001feet) – 98m (322feet)	underground shaft, earth moving					Designed to build a dam on the Deldyn River; was to be first of 8, but project was scrubbed by high radioactivity. Original crater covered with dirt from mine nearby. 90 km NE Aykhal, Yakutia.	- ! 410 Argon 3	06:33:00.14	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1005 49.9877°N 78.8944°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapon effect						- ! 411	05:00:00.0	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area A, Chyornaya Guba, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: Yu-5N 70.88°N 53.87°W	30m (100feet) – 1500m (4,900feet)	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 412	05:57:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Sary-Uzen/Murzhik, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 215 49.95°N 77.7°W	460m (1,510feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development			Venting detected			- ! 413 Lazurit (Lazurite)	05:59:59.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Sary-Uzen/Murzhik, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: R-1 49.9276°N 77.6052°W	460m (1,510feet) – 75m (246feet)	underground shaft, earth moving					Supposed to build a dome, part of a dam wall on the upslope side of a 20 degree slope.	- ! 414	06:23:00.14	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 709p 49.7598°N 78.0754°W	629m (2,064feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 415	06:41:00.34	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 148/5 49.8329°N 78.0318°W	600m (2,000feet) – 126m (413feet)	tunnel, industrial					A second test of a special device (see #366 and #415) for keeping radioactivity from invading ore bodies when using a bomb to fracture them.	- ! 416	05:46:59.49	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1058 49.9686°N 79.0044°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, 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. 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.