1981 Soviet nuclear tests explained

1981
Country:	Soviet Union
Test Site:	Astrakhan, Russia; Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan; Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan; Krasnoyarsk, Russia; Nenetsky, Russia; NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia; Perm, Russia
Period:	1981
Number Of Tests:	21
Test Type:	underground shaft, tunnel
Max Yield:	150ktTNT
Next Series:	1982 Soviet nuclear tests

The Soviet Union's 1981 nuclear test series was a group of 21 nuclear tests conducted in 1981. These tests ^[1] followed the 1980 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1982 Soviet nuclear tests series.

Soviet Union's 1981 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	- ! 567		ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 603-pp 49.8181°N 78.0405°W	677m (2,221feet) +	tunnel, safety experiment						- ! 568 - 1	04:03:52.58	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1234 50.0231°N 78.9787°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 568 - 2	04:03:52.6	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1234 50.0231°N 78.9787°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, fundamental science						- ! 568 - 3	04:03:52.6	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1234 50.0231°N 78.9787°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, fundamental science						- ! 569 - 1	01:17:13.91	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1232 49.8999°N 78.8061°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 569 - 2	01:17:13.9	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1232 49.8999°N 78.8061°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 569 - 3	01:17:13.9	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1232 49.8999°N 78.8061°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 570 Pirit (Pyrite)	05:00:00.3	KRAT (7 hrs)	Nenetsky, Russia 67.9527°N 53.9674°W	– 1511m (4,957feet)	underground shaft, extinguishing oil/gas fires					Gas fire shaft closure.	- ! 571	03:58:14.88	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1203 49.9887°N 78.9691°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 572		ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 603-pp 49.819°N 78.0408°W	677m (2,221feet) +	tunnel, safety experiment						- ! 573 - 1	01:57:15.34	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 187 49.7669°N 78.0744°W	633m (2,077feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 573 - 2	01:57:15.3	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 187 49.7669°N 78.0744°W	633m (2,077feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 574	02:37:18.12	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 106 49.8064°N 78.1352°W	802m (2,631feet) – 146m (479feet)	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 575 - 1	02:27:15.24	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 184 49.7587°N 78.0565°W	717m (2,352feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 575 - 2	02:27:15.2	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 184 49.7587°N 78.0565°W	717m (2,352feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 575 - 3	02:27:15.2	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 184 49.7587°N 78.0565°W	717m (2,352feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 576 Geliy 1 (Helium)	04:00:00.0	SVET (5 hrs)	Perm, Russia: 401 60.6°N 55.7°W	– 2090m (6,860feet)	underground shaft, oil stimulation					Oil recovery intensification.170 km NE Bereznyaki.	- ! 577	02:17:20.84	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1233 49.9148°N 78.8942°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 578 Vega 4T	05:00:00.3	VOLT (4 hrs)	Astrakhan, Russia: 4T/2 46.7936°N 48.3086°W	10m (30feet) – 1050m (3,450feet)	underground shaft, cavity excavation					Create reservoirs for gas storage. 35 km N Astrakhan.	- ! 579 Vega 2T	05:03:59.9	VOLT (4 hrs)	Astrakhan, Russia: 2T/2 46.7759°N 48.3011°W	10m (30feet) – 1050m (3,450feet)	underground shaft, cavity excavation					Create reservoirs for gas storage. 35 km N Astrakhan.	- ! 580 - 1	12:14:57.23	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-23 73.304°N 54.818°W	100m (300feet) – 600m (2,000feet)	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 580 - 2	12:14:57.2	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-23 73.304°N 54.818°W	100m (300feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 580 - 3	12:14:57.2	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-23 73.304°N 54.818°W	100m (300feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 580 - 4	12:14:57.2	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-23 73.304°N 54.818°W	100m (300feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 581		ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 136-pp 49.8298°N 78.0805°W	638m (2,093feet) +	tunnel, safety experiment						- ! 582 - 1	03:57:05.22	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1236 49.929°N 78.8435°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 582 - 2	03:57:05.2	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1236 49.929°N 78.8435°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 583 Shpat 2 (Spar)	14:00:00.4	KRAT (7 hrs)	Krasnoyarsk, Russia: ShP-2 63.8033°N 97.5318°W	– 580m (1,900feet)	underground shaft, seismic sounding					Gas extraction intensification. 140 km W Tura, Krasnoyarsk.	- ! 584 - 1	04:57:05.07	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 103 49.7401°N 78.0965°W	620m (2,030feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 584 - 2	04:57:05.1	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 103 49.7401°N 78.0965°W	620m (2,030feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 585 - 1	03:35:11.2	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1237 49.9027°N 78.8475°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 585 - 2	03:35:11.2	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1237 49.9027°N 78.8475°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 585 - 3	03:35:11.2	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1237 49.9027°N 78.8475°W	330m (1,080feet) +	underground shaft, weapons development						- ! 586 - 1	04:31:05.27	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 135 49.8267°N 78.0757°W	638m (2,093feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 586 - 2	04:31:05.3	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 135 49.8267°N 78.0757°W	638m (2,093feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 586 - 3	04:31:05.3	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 135 49.8267°N 78.0757°W	638m (2,093feet) +	tunnel, weapons development						- ! 587	03:43:16.72	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1312 49.9314°N 78.7862°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". V. N. . Mikhailov. Catalog of World Wide Nuclear Testing. Begell-Atom, LLC. 2013-12-18. 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. https://web.archive.org/web/20140311224729/http://www.ietf.org/timezones/. 2014-03-11. dead.
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.