- Vela Uniform
Vela Uniform was an element of
Project Vela conducted jointly by theUnited States Department of Energy (DOE) and theAdvanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). Its purpose was to developseismic methods for detectingunderground nuclear testing .Vela Uniform incorporated seven underground nuclear tests in the continental
United States andAlaska from October1963 to July1971 . Seismic traces from multiple locations were analyzed for each of these events to develop methods for differentiating underground nuclear tests from other seismic events (such asearthquake s) and locating the test site.These tests were codenamed PROJECT SHOAL, PROJECT DRIBBLE, PROJECT LONG SHOT, PROJECT SCROLL, PROJECT DIAMOND DUST, and PROJECT DIAMOND MINE. The SHOAL detonation took place beneath Gote Flat in the
Sand Springs Range of centralNevada . The PROJECT DRIBBLE program involved two nuclear detonations called SALMON and STERLING that were conducted within Tatum Salt Dome (on a tract referred to as the "Salmon Site ") southwest ofHattiesburg, Mississippi . The LONGSHOT detonation took place on Amchitka Island, Alaska and the remainder were at theNevada Test Site in southern Nevada. The Vela Uniform program also involved numerous experiments using conventional high-explosives.The program involved many experts from academia along with those from the sponsoring military agencies and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).
The radioactive blast debris from 839 U.S. underground nuclear test explosions remains buried in-place and has been judged impractical to remove by the DOE's [http://www.nv.doe.gov Nevada Site Office] .
Reference Sources
*"United States Nuclear Tests, July 1945 to 31 December 1992" (NWD 94-1), Robert Standish Norris and Thomas B. Cochran, Nuclear Weapons Databook, Working Papers, Natural Resources Defense Council, 1350 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005, 202-783-7800, 1 February 1994.
*"Nuclear Explosions and Earthquakes: The Parted Veil," Bruce A. Bolt, W. H. Freeman and Company, San Francisco, 1976, ISBN 0-7167-0276-2.
* [http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/469154-Il8yqP/webviewable/469154.pdf "Focused Evaluation of Selected Remedial Alternatives for the Underground Test Area"] (DOE/NV--465), April 1997, Environmental Restoration Division, Nevada Operations Office, U.S. Department of Energy, North Las Vegas, Nevada, 89030-4134.
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