Anyone know why the US performed so MANY nuclear bomb tests?

Question

I was looking at Google Earth in Nevada (south of where my sister, brother-in-law, neices, cousins live) and saw what looks like HUNDREDS of test craters and even more underground sites. What were we learning? Nearly all of these gave off radioactive clouds, which drifted as far as the Mississippi...

Answer 1

Arrgh!

Except for a couple of answers (Rex R and the guy that apparently worked at Rocky Flats), here is the real story, from me, who has actually worked on and walked those grounds (and undergrounds) that you saw in the Google Earth pics, for over 10 years.

There were several types of tests.
1. A new design from Lawrence Livermore or Los Alamos scientists had to be tested (these were frequent in the 1950s, but few and far-between in the 1980s).
2. Safety tests (several per year). In other words, if by accident one or two of the explosive segments of the implosion device went 'off' would the bomb go nuclear? Chemical explosives have shelf lives and degrade over time. some bombs and warheads have been sitting in ammo-dumps for decades. Will they spontaneously go nuke? You need to test to be sure. Watch the movie, "The Peacemaker" and listen to what Nicole Kidman says to George Clooney in the church, near the end -- it's pretty accurate.
3. Effects tests (my 'specialty'). There were a few of these per year. What effect will a nuclear warhead in space have on satellites, other nearby warheads (friendly or foe), microelectronics, materials, etc? You need to test to find out. Large vacuum chambers the size of submarines were constructed in underground tunnels, with a small nuke at one end and a lot of stuff to be tested at the other end.
4. Yield testing (toned down). There were a few of these every year. Like safety tests where you don't want them to go nuclear by accident, you also want them to do what they are supposed to do when you want them to do it. Will this bomb rated for 2.5 Megaton yield 2.5 Megaton after 20 years on the shelf? You need to test it. When they tested the *real* big ones, the scientists somehow made the yield smaller for test, but knew how to calculate the real yield.
5. Exo-atmospheric and space testing. This was rare. They discovered EMP and its destructiveness from these tests.


Oh, and yes, Area 51 was right over the hill to the northeast, and no we weren't allowed over there. A few craft workers with special skills might have been used rarely. Mostly they worked in their area, we worked in our areas.

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Answer 2

They were learning how much damage they could do, without killing the whole world with radiation fall-out. In addition, at the same time, learning what would have to be done to protected U.S. citizens, if some other country or terrorist detonated a nuclear bomb. I live within 75 miles of a test site and I have drilled a 17,000 feet deep gas well within 1/2 mile of the test site in New Mexico. There are no “craters” here; all were set off underground to prevent the fall-out.

Answer 3

well i cannot be too specific as to what they were accomplishing. but most of it was research and analysis of theromoneuclear reactions for optimizations of different configurations. such as which types of materials, gave off either more x-rays, electromagnetic waves, neutrons, gamma waves, and size reductions for use in merv's and artillery. and for targeting specific things. and even making shaped thermoneuclear piercing and cratering charges. they even used very special high speed cameras, to observe the first milliseconds of the supercritticality blast as close quarters. so that they could improve specificly designed bomb technologies and casings. even testing what happens to specific materials and how the are turned into salts, and radio isotopes at certain distances from ground zero.

but contrary to popular belief they pretty much knew the effects of radiation and fallout on populations. withing a very few years of testing. and is why they went to underground testing, later one. because of the fear of accumilated dangerous effects on the world.

but most of what is learned, if i were to tell you. then you would know too much. and then i would have to kill the both of us. cause two people can only keep a top secret if at least one is dead.

Answer 4

Most of that testing took place during the Cold War era when the U.S. and its allies faced a growing threat from Russia who was militarising itself at a rapid pace. Coupled with the Cuban missile crisis in which Russia convinced Castro to permit the placement of medium range missiles in Cuba in the 60's. Everything Russia was doing at the time was a stern warning to the U.S. and its allies that it better maintain military superiority over this growing threat. As for why there were so many, how else were they to determine the impact different configurations and payloads would have?

Answer 5

Every new design had to be tested.

You are wrong that these test gave of radiation. Very few of them vented at all. The ground under the desert is very radioactive though. Today we test bombs in the computers at LLNL

Answer 6

Why is the U.S Again the bad one?

We did over 1000 But Russia did over 700 and France even did over 200.

I'm happy we did the tests. If it came down to it i want to know our bombs work. I wish they would keep testing other then relying on computers.

Answer 7

Many were not fully aware of the effects of radiation. Certainly not those who were so close to the test sites.

The military was trying to develop smaller bombs with greater yields (greater destructive power) and they were trying to determine the optimum altitude for detonation in order to cause the most destruction. It is the shock wave from the explosion that causes the massive destruction. The radiation is a consequence of the method used to develop such a powerful blast.

Answer 8

Actually, radioactive particles can be found all over the world. The continents aren't single entities. They are part of on ecosystem and what happens on one side, will effect the other

Answer 9

It replaced into code-named...Bravo **************************************... greatest Hydrogen Bomb Crater On March a million, 1954, the U. S. government carried out its greatest ever nuclear weapons try on Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands. The 13.6 megaton hydrogen bomb explosion, code-named Bravo, vapourised 2 islands, 0.5 of a 0.33 one, and hundreds of thousands of tonnes of sand, coral and sea and vegetation. This left at the back of a crater with a diameter of around a million,800 m (6,000 ft) and a intensity of around 70m (240 ft).

Answer 10

Cuz we're the USA and we can!!! We don't allow anyone else to have WMD's because they can attack innocent people but we know when to attack and kill millions thus we're allowed to have them!!! We have now killed 1 millions Iraqui civilians according to john hopkins university. But to answer your question, I would say we were just practicing bombing targets in Nevada. Practice makes perfect and you can see the results in Iraq. Sad, very sad what we've done there.