On 31 January 1950, President Truman made public the decision to
develop a thermonuclear bomb, a decision which, of course, was to have
great impact on Eniwetok Atoll.
Test of weapons with such large increases
in yield and fallout radiation are not suitable for tests on the continental
United States, but are better suited for the remoteness of the Pacific
Proving Ground.
To facilitate tests of devices that at first were limited
to the 20-kiloton nominal yield of the Hiroshima weapon, the Nevada Proving
Ground, near Las Vegas, Nevada, was additionally established in the autumn of
1950.
The first tests there were in a 1951 series starting on 27 January.
The Eniwetok Atoll test series also planned for 1951 was designated
as Operation Greenhouse and included, among other tests, activities related
to thermonuclear research, but not yet involving a full thermonuclear explo$
sion. Between 7 April and 24 May 1951, four tests from towers were conducted
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A full thermonuclear explosion was achieved the following year in the
1952 test series Operation Ivy at Eniwetok Atoll 428
This involved only two
tests, but ones of considerable significance and consequences.
The first
was Test Mike, the first thermonuclear detonation , which was a ground level
explosion amounting to 10.4 megatons (equivalent of 10.4 million tons of
high explosive) on 1 November 1952 ona small island, Elugelab (Eluklapin in
Marshallese, and Flora by the U.S. code name), at the north end of the Atoll.
Being a surface explosion and having this large yield, Test Mike actually
removed this small island from the Atoll chain.
A large reinforced concrete
building built on the nearby large island of Engebi to test effects of pressure
was partly damaged.
The second test of Qperation Greenhouse was a "high yield"
explosion, Test King, from an air drop over Runit Island.
7.
8.
Reference 1, p 125.
Reference 1, p 135.
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