4.

PLANNING AND CONDUCTING NEVADA TESTS

Origin of a Series

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As weapons developmental work progresses,‘ new ideas origi-

nate in the weapons laboratories, new requirements for weapons

are posed by the military, or important new questions are asked
as to design, efficiency or effects. .As the various test projects accumulate, a series is scheduled tentatively for some

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future period, generally about two years away.

The winnowing out of test proposals for a specific series
may begin a year in advance. Usually at about eight months in

advance, plans are sufficiently firm to begin the procedures es-

sential to starting construction and organization. At about
five months, programming has progressed to the selection of an
operating period and determination of total number of shots.
Each Shot Justified for Technical Necessity

Each Nevada. shot must be justified as to its safety, but

before then it must have been justified as to its importance to
the nation.
Only tests which are vital to national atomic pro-

grams, only those which contribute directly to the defense of

this Nation and of the free world, are admissible.

The Nevada Test Site Planning Board examines each proposed
nuclear test to determine whether it is technically necessary,
whether it can be fired safely in Nevada or must be transferred
to the Pacific, and whether the device and its associated experiments can be ready at the time required. If the test meets all
the criteria it is incorporated into the schedule for a Nevada
series.
Operating Considerations
Requirement for Technical Success. Each experimental device
fired must be designed so the required diagnostic and effects information sought can be obtained with the minimum expenditure of
fissionable materials. Requirements may include a new type of instrumentation to obtain diagnostic or effects data, and if so
there must be assurance the data sought will be obtained.
Public Safety Requirement.

No shot is scheduled in Nevada

until a determination has been made that its firing will be ac-

ceptable under established criteria for offsite radicactive fall-

out.

Because height of the detonation above ground level is a

determining factor in nearby off-site fallout, a device that

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