between 1945 and 1992 the united states performed over 1 000 nuclear tests out of
those 216 were space underwater or atmospheric tests while most of the testing took place at a
test site in nevada the united states military tested the capabilities of these new weapons
in other places as well particularly within the pacific ocean with such
immense power in their hands you would assume the scientists would take extra precautions to ensure
innocent bystanders were not negatively impacted from the nuclear warheads detonating nearby
however mistakes happen in every line of work and there have been several cases where nuclear
testing went horribly off the rails while there have only been a few tests gone awry
one error is one too many when you're dealing with nuclear weapons it is estimated that because of
nuclear weapons testing in the united states over 300 000 americans have lost their lives
today on underworld we're going to be going over two nuclear tests that went horribly wrong
on march 1 1954 a group of military officers scientists marshall island natives and fishermen
gathered on a small island to witness the testing of a new nuclear weapon the testing was codenamed
castle bravo and its impact almost led to the deaths of them all the experiment was designed to
test the first thermonuclear explosion that was based on feasible technology the goal was that
this research would result in a deliverable h-bomb the team designed a prototype wet fuel bomb that
was based on the ivy mic weapon designed just a couple of years earlier the bomb in question
weighed 30 tons despite only measuring 5 feet wide and 24 feet long however this bomb simply wasn't
practical which is why for castle bravo they used dry fuel consisting of lithium deuteride which is
solid and more lightweight scientists estimated that castle bravo would yield an explosion of
roughly 5 megatons with this in mind they based where the safety zone would be where people could
watch the explosion and remain a safe distance away castle bravo was set to go off at 6 45
local time and from the second it detonated onlookers knew something had gone terribly wrong
the nuclear explosion produced an overwhelming flash even brighter than what scientists expected
from nuclear blasts the blast was so bright that men were able to see their bones appear as shadows
through their own flesh blinding light made its way through every crack and pinhole within the
secured facilities the thermal radiation from the blast was far more intense than they were
anticipating sailors on navy ships over 30 miles away were reported as saying that it felt like a
blowtorch was being directed right at their bodies the subsequent shock wave destroyed buildings far
outside the calculated damage zone the fireball forming from the explosion measured at roughly
four miles in diameter and rose over a hundred and thirty thousand feet above sea level oh and
did i mention that it was hotter than the surface of the sun men who fought valiantly in world war
ii fell to their knees and began to pray remember when we said that scientists expected the blast to
only be 5 megatons well when all was said and done that blast was closer to 15 megatons the reason
for the miscalculation was due to a tritium bonus that happened in the middle of the thermonuclear
reaction cascading neutrons in the bomb turned the lithium-7 isotope into a mix of tritium and helium
and if you know nothing of thermonuclear dynamics then you should know that tritium creates extreme
energetic fusion this blast was 1 000 times greater than the atomic bomb dropped on hiroshima
and just when everyone in the vicinity thought they were safe there was the matter of the
nuclear fallout meteorologists expected the fallout to blow away from all inhabited areas
instead the opposite occurred with a radioactive cloud blowing the fallout toward the population
it rained down on nearby ships as well as united states service members stationed
on ronduric island the fallout also made its way to a japanese fishing vessel where one man
died from radiation exposure resulting in an international disaster between the u.s
and japan more so marshall island natives had to leave the only home they had ever known because
the radiation was leading to increased cases of thyroid cancer as well as birth defects
they returned briefly but had to evacuate again due to fears of lingering radiation
and they never went back fallout continued in the form of extensive legislation to limit further
testing of nuclear weapons in 1963 the u.s passed the limited test ban treaty that outlawed any
further atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in 1990 congress passed the radiation exposure
compensation act which stated that the justice department would offer a one-time payment of 75
000 to any and all atomic veterans for nuclear testing related illnesses surprisingly records
show that only about 3 percent of such atomic veterans have ever filed for a claim
due to atmospheric testing being banned the military and scientists had to go underground
if they wanted to test the capabilities of nuclear weapons one such test known as the
bainberry test was scheduled to occur at 7 30 a.m on december 18 1970. the test was located
at a nevada test site the bomb was lowered more than 900 feet into a hole a little over seven
feet in diameter it only took about three minutes after the test began for people to realize that
something had gone horrifically wrong nearly 300 feet away from the hole where the bomb was planted
a fissure opened up in the ground this fissure was just large enough to where a cloud of
radioactive vapor and dust began pouring into the sky government workers immediately had to evacuate
from the test site but when you're dealing with a nuclear bomb you don't exactly have a lot of time
hundreds of them ended up being exposed to the radiation for many of the workers their exposure
remained within the established safety limits however two men who had suffered from the highest
levels of exposure out of anyone later contracted leukemia and passed away their widows fought for
compensation for years while courts ultimately found the government to be negligent in this cast
it found that they were not liable and no money was awarded the government also ended up doing
a test to determine why this went wrong they halted all underground testing for six months
and eventually it was discovered that the geology of the site along with its high water content
ultimately magnified the impact of the bomb new rules were put into place regarding the
investigation of geology of potential test sites before moving forward additionally new
rules had to be put into place to limit workers potential exposure to radiation in the future
in the above two examples there were terrifying pictures of what these blasts looked like however
ultimately the blast isn't what ended up killing anyone people remained at safe distances from the
detonations and while things went wrong no one was near the blast site the real killer came in
the form of radioactive fallout the last nuclear testing occurred in the 1990s and for good reason
new research has revealed that there has always been a hidden cost of developing nuclear weapons
and it's in the form of numerous american deaths between 1951 and 1973 it's estimated that anywhere
between 340 000 and 690 000 americans died as a result of nuclear fallout in their own country
between 1951 and 1963 the us tested nuclear weapons above ground inadvertently exposing
thousands of workers to fallout in high doses this fallout is deadly to humans and even in low doses
it can still lead to cancer the emissions did not remain localized at the test site instead wind
blew the fallout into local communities over time it was revealed that towns near nuclear
testing sites had significantly higher rates of cancer when compared to other cities much causes
could be as high as 690 000 it seems as though the united states killed more of its own people
to develop these weapons the government has taken steps to reduce the number of people exposed to
radioactive materials additionally there was some blind luck associated with reducing the number of
poisoned individuals a great deal of nuclear testing occurred in nevada which had a low
atmospheric dispersal rate meaning the fallout was less likely to make its way to nearby communities
the government was actually looking at other testing facilities before it decided on nevada
and it turns out that decision could have saved hundreds upon thousands of lives unfortunately
the impact of these tests lingers in american society it's entirely plausible that millions of
americans were exposed to fallout and suffer from illnesses related to that exposure those people
now rely on the government to fund health care nuclear testing has fallen to the wayside with
the last test occurring in 1992 this was due to the adoption of the comprehensive nuclear
test ban treaty that was created by the united nations general assembly this treaty bans all
nuclear explosions for both military and civilian purposes the treaty has not entered into force
with eight nations not yet ratifying nuclear weapons have a complicated spot in history