Salmon Site

Salmon Site is a convert|1470|acre|km2|sing=on tract of land in Lamar County, Mississippi, near Baxterville. The tract is located over a geological formation known as the Tatum Salt Dome and is the location of the only nuclear weapons test detonations known to have been performed in the eastern United States.Two underground detonations, a joint effort of the US Atomic Energy Commission and the US Department of Defense, took place under the designation of Project Dribble, part of a larger program known as Vela Uniform (aimed at assessing remote detonation detection capabilities). The first test, known as the Salmon Event, took place on October 22, 1964. It involved detonation of a 5.3 kiloton device at a depth of convert|2700|ft|m. The second test, known as the Sterling Event, took place on December 3, 1966 and involved detonation of a 380 ton device suspended in the cavity left by the previous test. Further non-nuclear explosive tests were later conducted in the remaining cavity as part of the related Project Miracle Play.

In October 2006 responsibility for the site was transferred to the US Department of Energy's Office of Legacy Management. A plaque mounted on a short stone pillar marks the site.

External links

* [http://www.lm.doe.gov/land/sites/ms/salmon/salmon2.htm US Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management, "Salmon Site"]
* [http://www.mensetmanus.net/salmon-sterling-site Mens et Manus.Net, "Salmon and Sterling Nuclear Detonation Test Site"]