Plumbbob Rainier (nonfiction)

Plumbbob Rainier nuclear test -- Nevada test site -- Dust was raised both by a shock wave traveling to the surface on the side of the detonation and was also raised by rolling rocks. Heat-created air currents raised the dust several hundred feet into the air.

Plumbbob Rainier was a nuclear weapons test in the Plumbbob series of tests.

Ranier detonated at 899 ft underground on 19 September 1957. The 1.7 kt explosion was the first to be entirely contained underground, producing no fallout. The test took place in a 1,600 – 2,000 ft horizontal tunnel in the shape of a hook. The hook "was designed so explosive force will seal off the non-curved portion of tunnel nearest the detonation before gases and fission fragments can be vented around the curve of the tunnel's hook". This test would become the prototype for larger, more powerful tests. Rainier was announced in advance, so that seismic stations could attempt to record a signal. Analysis of samples collected after the test enabled scientists to develop an understanding of underground explosions that "persists essentially unaltered today". The information would later provide a basis for subsequent decisions to agree to the Limited Test Ban Treaty.

Fiction cross-reference

• Clandestiphrine
• Crimes against physical constants
• Gnomon algorithm
• Gnomon Chronicles

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Operation Plumbbob (nonfiction)

External links:

• Operation Plumbob @ Wikipedia
• Underground nuclear weapons testing @ Wikipedia