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Operation Nougat - 1961
In it closing days, the Eisenhower administration initiated negotitations on a nuclear test ban with the Soviet Union (this intention was announced by Eisenhower on 22 August 1958). As an important confidence building measure, Eisenhower also announced that a one-year voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing (if the Soviets made a reciprocal commitment) would go into effect on 31 October 1958. This ban was later extended to 13 months (31 December 1959), but on 29 December 1959 the U.S. announced an end to the voluntary moratorium although it also promised not the renew testing without advance public notice.
This decision not the extend the formal moratorium commitment may have been due to the status of the negotiations, which were faring very poorly. On 3 January 1960, Khrushchev pledged that the Soviet Union would not conduct nuclear testing unless the Western nations resumed it. The US, the UK and France made no move to resume testing, and so the matter rested for nearly three years.
On 31 August 1961, Khrushchev announced that the Soviet Union was abruptly abandoning the nuclear testing moratorium, which they (and the United States) had observed for 34 months. The next day, on 1 September 1961, the Soviet Union began an atmospheric test series of unprecedented magnitude with a 16 Kt atmospheric nuclear shot. Two weeks later, the U.S. responded by initiating Operation Nougat.
This series was conducted at the Nevada Test Site, which permitted rapid initiation of tests, but restricted them to low yields (and mostly underground test shots) due to fallout concerns. Although this was still the "era of atmospheric testing", Nougat was actually the first underground test series. Higher yield atmospheric tests followed seven months later with Operation Dominic in the Pacific.
The assignment of tests to individual "operations" between this time and the end of atmospheric testing is confused and complicated by several overlapping operations - Nougat, Dominic (or Dominic I), Sunbeam (or Dominic II), Fishbowl, Storax, and Roller Coaster. The available documentation on these operations is somewhat unclear unclear or confusing, and it may be that in some cases a shot may be officially included in more than one operation. Definitely and unambiguously assigning shots to operations for this period is thus hard or impossible. Some disagreement about which shots should be properly included with a particular operation may occur. According to this account Operation Nougat included a total of 44 shots, exceeding the previous record holder, Operation Hardtack II, with 37 tests.
Nougat generally resembles Hardtack II in nature, with extensive testing of low yield tactical devices. Thermonuclear primaries and radiation imploson mockups were also tested. Much attention was paid to simultaneously achieving desired performance and one-point safety in "sealed pit" fission devices, some designs required numerous shots.
Since all the tests were fired underground, and only a few of them produced true blast craters (i.e. not subsidence craters caused by blast cavity collapse).
The most publicized event of Nougat was the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory shot Gnome, which was fired in an underground salt dome formation. A permanent stable cavity 52 meters in diameter, and 24 meters high, was formed. This one of the very few nuclear test cavities (perhaps the only one) to avoid collapse. Some radiation accidentally released as a result of subsequent drilling.
Test Shots
| Name |
Date |
Size |
| Antler |
September 15, 1961 |
2.6 kilotons |
| Shrew |
September 16, 1961 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Boomer |
October 1, 1961 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Chena |
October 10, 1961 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Mink |
October 29, 1961 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Fisher |
December 3, 1962 |
13.4 kilotons |
| Gnome |
December 10, 1962 |
3 kilotons |
| Mad |
December 13, 1962 |
0.5 kilotons |
| Ringtail |
December 17, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Feather |
December 22, 1962 |
0.15 kilotons |
| Stoat |
January 9, 1962 |
5.1 kilotons |
| Agouti |
January 18, 1962 |
6.4 kt |
| Doormouse |
January 30, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Stillwater |
February 8, 1962 |
3.07 kilotons |
| Armadillo |
February 9, 1962 |
7.1 kilotons |
| Hard Hat |
February 15, 1962 |
5.7 kilotons |
| Chinchilla I |
February 19, 1962 |
1.9 kilotons |
| Codsaw |
February 19, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Cimarron |
February 23, 1962 |
11.9 kilotons |
| Platypus |
February 24, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Pampas |
March 1, 1962 |
9.5 kilotons |
| Danny Boy |
March 5, 1962 |
0.43 kilotons |
| Ermine |
March 6, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Brazos |
March 8, 1962 |
8.4 kilotons |
| Hognose |
March 15, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Hoosic |
March 28, 1962 |
3.4 kilotons |
| Chinchilla II |
March 31, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Dormouse Prime |
April 5, 1962 |
10.6 kilotons |
| Passaic |
April 6, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Hudson |
April 12, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Platte |
April 14, 1962 |
1.85 kilotons |
| Dead |
April 21, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Black |
April 27, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Paca |
May 7, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Arikaree |
May 10, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Aadvark |
May 12, 1962 |
40 kilotons |
| Eel |
May 19, 1962 |
4.5 kilotons |
| White |
May 25, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Racoon |
June 1, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Packrat |
June 6, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Des Moines |
June 13, 1962 |
2.9 kilotons |
| Daman I |
June 21, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Haymaker |
June 27, 1962 |
67 kilotons |
| Marshmallow |
June 28, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
| Sacramento |
June 30, 1962 |
< 20 kilotons |
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