FACT SHEET
l aot) ke
IVY was an atmospheric nucléar weapons test series held in the Atomic
1ergy Commission's (AEC) Pacific Proving Ground at Enewetak Atoll in the
Marshall Islands during autumn 1952.
The series consisted of the two
detonations listed below.
Assigned
Local
Name
Date
MIKE
1 Novy
KING
16 Nov
Location
Yield@
Elukl2d Island; surface
19.4 MT
Airburst (1,480 feet [440 meters])
over reef off Runit Island
oT
nas
500
KT
“One kiloton equals the approximate energy release of the explosion
Of one thousand tons of TNT; one megaton equals the approximate
energy release of the explosion of one million tons of TNT.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
.
President Truman made the decision to pursue the development of thermonuclear weapons in 1950, and the IVY series was a key step in this development.
MIKE was an experimental device and produced the first thermonuclear
detonation, in which a substantial portion of its energy was generated by the
fusion, or joining, of hydrogen atoms.
tO produce a large yield.
KING wes a stockpile weapon, modified
It was dropped from a B<-36 bomber.
The energy frei
KING was generated by the fission, or splitting, of plutonium atoms.
These
|
®
were the largest nuclear explosions to that time.
JOINT TASK FORCE 132
.
Joi:.t Task .sarce 132 (JTF 132) was the organization that conducted the IVY
test series.
Elements of the four services, the AEC and other Federal govern-
Ment agencies, and civiliais from government laboratory organizations and con-
traccors sie up this organization.
Commander JF 132 reported to th: Joint
Chiefs of Staff, but +:s also designated th. AZC's acent in conducting the
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