Operation Touchstone Explained

Touchstone
Picture Description:A Soviet flag is raised next to an American flag at the Nevada Test Site as part of the Joint Verification Experiment
Country:United States
Test Site:NTS Area 12, Rainier Mesa; NTS Area 19, 20, Pahute Mesa; NTS, Areas 1–4, 6–10, Yucca Flat
Period:1987–1988
Number Of Tests:13
Test Type:underground shaft, tunnel
Max Yield:150ktTNT
Next Series:Operation Cornerstone

The United States's Touchstone nuclear test series was a group of 13 nuclear tests conducted in 1987–1988. These tests [1] followed the Operation Musketeer series and preceded the Operation Cornerstone series.

Joint Verification Experiment (JVE)

The series included Touchstone Kearsarge, a joint US-Soviet test as part of the Joint Verification Experiment (JVE). The JVE's purpose was to provide yield data to both parties about each other's nuclear test sites so that accurate remote measurements could be taken to verify each other's compliance with the Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT).[2] [3]

List of the nuclear tests

See also: List of nuclear weapons tests of the United States.

United States' Touchstone series tests and detonations
- !style="background:#ffdead;" Name [4] !style="background:#efefef;" Date time (UT) !style="background:#ffdead;" Local time zone[5] [6] !style="background:#efefef;" Location[7] !style="background:#ffdead;" Elevation + height [8] !style="background:#efefef;" Delivery [9]
Purpose [10] !style="background:#efefef;" 		Device[11] !style="background:#ffdead;" Yield[12] !style="background:#efefef;" class="unsortable" Fallout[13] !style="background:#ffdead;" class="unsortable" References !style="background:#efefef;" class="unsortable" Notes - ! Borate 16:00:00.09 PST (–8 hrs)
NTS Area U2ge 37.1419°N -116.0796°W 1294m (4,245feet) – 542.5m (1,779.9feet) underground shaft,
weapons development 		I-131 venting detected, 0 - ! Waco 16:30:00.09 PST (–8 hrs)
NTS Area U3lu 36.9964°N -116.0053°W 1176m (3,858feet) – 182.9m (600.1feet) underground shaft,
weapons development 		- ! Mission Cyber 16:00:00.084 PST (–8 hrs)
NTS Area U12p.02 37.2346°N -116.1643°W 1926m (6,319feet) – 270.6m (887.8feet) tunnel,
weapon effect 		- ! Kernville 18:10:00.089 PST (–8 hrs)
NTS Area U20ar 37.3143°N -116.4725°W 1899m (6,230feet) – 541.6m (1,776.9feet) underground shaft,
weapons development 		- ! Abilene 17:15:00.078 PST (–8 hrs)
NTS Area U3mn 37.0131°N -116.0452°W 1187m (3,894feet) – 245.06m (804feet) underground shaft,
weapons development 		- ! Schellbourne 15:35:00.108 PST (–8 hrs)
NTS Area U2gf 37.1244°N -116.073°W 1268m (4,160feet) – 463m (1,519feet) underground shaft,
weapons development 		Venting detected, 22Ci - ! Laredo 22:30:00.14 PST (–8 hrs)
NTS Area U3mh 37.0325°N -115.9881°W 1220m (4,000feet) – 351.4m (1,152.9feet) underground shaft,
weapons development 		- ! Comstock 13:00:00.088 PST (–8 hrs)
NTS Area U20ay 37.2601°N -116.442°W 1960m (6,430feet) – 620.3m (2,035.1feet) underground shaft,
weapons development 		Venting detected - ! Nightingale - 2 (with Rhyolite) 14:00:00.079 PST (–8 hrs)
NTS Area U2ey 37.1661°N -116.0731°W 1309m (4,295feet) – 237.7m (779.9feet) underground shaft,
safety experiment 		Simultaneous, separate holes. - ! Rhyolite - 1 (with Nightengale) 14:00:00.079 PST (–8 hrs)
NTS Area U2ey 37.1661°N -116.0731°W 1309m (4,295feet) – 207.3m (680.1feet) underground shaft,
weapons development 		Simultaneous, separate holes. - ! Alamo 15:05:30.07 PST (–8 hrs)
NTS Area U19au 37.2524°N -116.3776°W 1964m (6,444feet) – 622.1m (2,041feet) underground shaft,
weapons development 		- ! Kearsarge 17:00:00.095 PST (–8 hrs)
NTS Area U19ax 37.2971°N -116.3074°W 2102m (6,896feet) – 615.7m (2,020feet) underground shaft,
weapons development 		The American part of the Joint Verification Experiment. - ! Harlingen - 1 18:30:00.08 PST (–8 hrs)
NTS Area U6g 36.9911°N -116.0189°W 1175m (3,855feet) – 289.6m (950.1feet) underground shaft,
weapons development 		Simultaneous, separate holes. - ! Harlingen - 2 18:30:00.08 PST (–8 hrs)
NTS Area U6h 36.9887°N -116.0188°W 1175m (3,855feet) + underground shaft,
weapons development 		Simultaneous, separate holes. - ! Bullfrog 18:00:00.089 PST (–8 hrs)
NTS Area U4au 37.0859°N -116.0693°W 1236m (4,055feet) – 489.2m (1,605feet) underground shaft,
weapons development 		Venting detected, 4Ci

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. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140426102201/http://www.iss-atom.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/1.htm. April 26, 2014.
  2. Web site: 2021-06-13 . Joint Verification Experiment Doomed to Cooperate . 2024-05-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210613152450/https://lab2lab.stanford.edu/lab-lab/joint-verification-experiment . June 13, 2021 .
  3. Web site: 2019-03-26 . Joint Verification Experiment . 2024-05-10 . James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies . en-US.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Web site: Time Zone Historical Database. iana.com. March 8, 2014.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Include weapons development, weapon effects, safety test, transport safety test, war, science, joint verification and industrial/peaceful, which may be further broken down.
  11. 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.
  12. Estimated energy yield in tons, kilotons, and megatons. A ton of TNT equivalent is defined as 4.184 gigajoules (1 gigacalorie).
  13. 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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