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Operation Castle BRAVO, 1956

Castle Bravo was the code name given to the first United States test of a dry fuel hydrogen bomb, detonated on March 1, 1954, at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands. Castle Bravo was the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated by the US, with a yield of 15 megatons of TNT. Fallout from the detonation, intended to be a secret test, fell on residents of Rongelap and Utirik atolls and spread around the world. The islanders were not evacuated until three days later and suffered radiation sickness. They were returned to the islands three years later but were removed again when their island was found to be unsafe. Operation Castle was a United States series of high-yield nuclear tests by Joint Task Force 7 beginning in March 1954. Conducted as a joint venture between the AEC and the DOD, the ultimate objective of the operation was to test designs for an aircraft-deliverable thermonuclear weapon. Operation Castle was considered to be a success as it proved the feasibility of deployable dry fuel designs for thermonuclear weapons. Public reaction to the tests and an awareness of the long-range effects of nuclear fallout has been attributed as being part of the motivation for the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963.
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Title:
Operation Castle BRAVO, 1956
Caption:
Castle Bravo was the code name given to the first United States test of a dry fuel hydrogen bomb, detonated on March 1, 1954, at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands. Castle Bravo was the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated by the US, with a yield of 15 megatons of TNT. Fallout from the detonation, intended to be a secret test, fell on residents of Rongelap and Utirik atolls and spread around the world. The islanders were not evacuated until three days later and suffered radiation sickness. They were returned to the islands three years later but were removed again when their island was found to be unsafe. Operation Castle was a United States series of high-yield nuclear tests by Joint Task Force 7 beginning in March 1954. Conducted as a joint venture between the AEC and the DOD, the ultimate objective of the operation was to test designs for an aircraft-deliverable thermonuclear weapon. Operation Castle was considered to be a success as it proved the feasibility of deployable dry fuel designs for thermonuclear weapons. Public reaction to the tests and an awareness of the long-range effects of nuclear fallout has been attributed as being part of the motivation for the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963.
Credit:
Album / Science Source / NNSA/NV Field Office
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Image size:
4050 x 3045 px | 35.3 MB
Print size:
34.3 x 25.8 cm | 13.5 x 10.2 in (300 dpi)
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