Nuclear Blast Footage Is The Stuff Of Nightmares

Operation Teapot was carried out by the U.S. in 1955 for the purpose of testing modes of strategic delivery and training ground troops engaged on a nuclear battlefield. Fourteen tests were performed, included the one featured in the video below. According the fact sheet from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, U.S. Strategic Command Center for Combatting Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Standing Joint Force for Elimination: Shot TURK, a 500-foot tower detonation, was fired with a yield of 43 kilotons at 5:20 a.m. on March 7, 1955, in Area 2 of Yucca Flat. Fallout of up to 10 R/h was detected about 2,100 meters (1.3 miles) southeast of ground zero during the initial survey, which was conducted from 6:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Exercise Desert Rock included observer, troop test, and technical service programs. Most of the 500 Desert Rock troops were support troops observing the shot. Trenches were constructed for TURK troop observers at a distance of 3,200 meters (2 miles) south of ground zero, but because these trenches were in the expected fallout path, they were not used. Instead, troops occupied the TESLA trenches, located about 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) southeast of ground zero.


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