1970 Soviet nuclear tests

1970
Information
Country	Soviet Union
Test site	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan; Mangystau, Kazakhstan; NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia; Orenburg, Russia; Sary-Uzen/Murzhik, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan
Period	1970
Number of tests	16
Test type	underground shaft, underground tunnel
Max. yield	2.2 megatonnes of TNT (9.2 PJ)
Navigation
Previous test series	1969 Soviet nuclear tests
Next test series	1971 Soviet nuclear tests

The Soviet Union's 1970 nuclear test series^[1] was a group of 16 nuclear tests conducted in 1970. These tests ^{[note 1]} followed the 1969 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1971 Soviet nuclear tests series.

Soviet Union's 1970 series tests and detonations

Name [note 2]	Date time (UT)	Local time zone [note 3][2]	Location [note 4]	Elevation + height [note 5]	Delivery, [note 6] Purpose [note 7]	Device [note 8]	Yield [note 9]	Fallout [note 10]	References	Notes
316 - 1	29 January 1970 07:03:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 802 49°47′44″N 78°07′26″E / 49.7956°N 78.1239°E	727 m (2,385 ft) +	underground tunnel, weapon effect		42 kt		[1][3][4][5][6][7]
316 - 2	29 January 1970 07:03:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 802 49°47′44″N 78°07′26″E / 49.7956°N 78.1239°E	727 m (2,385 ft) +	underground tunnel, weapon effect		unknown yield		[1][3][4][6][7][8]
316 - 3	29 January 1970 07:03:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 802 49°47′44″N 78°07′26″E / 49.7956°N 78.1239°E	727 m (2,385 ft) +	underground tunnel, weapon effect		unknown yield		[1][3][4][6][7][8]
317	18 February 1970	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: Sh-2 49°44′02″N 78°05′59″E / 49.73395°N 78.09982°E	700 m (2,300 ft) +	underground tunnel, safety experiment		1000 kg		[1][4][6][7][8]
318	27 March 1970 05:02:59.6	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 610 49°44′52″N 77°59′56″E / 49.7478°N 77.999°E	698 m (2,290 ft) +	underground tunnel, peaceful research		6.5 kt		[1][3][4][5][6][7]
319	27 May 1970 04:03:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: Sh-3 49°43′55″N 78°05′51″E / 49.73183°N 78.0975°E	580 m (1,900 ft) +	underground tunnel, weapons development		900 t		[1][4][5][6][7]
320 Magistral (Highway)	25 June 1970 04:59:55.5	SVET (5 hrs)	Orenburg, Russia: 1T-2S 52°12′04″N 55°41′31″E / 52.201°N 55.692°E	- 700 m (2,300 ft)	underground shaft, cavity excavation		2.3 kt		[1][5][6][7][8][9]	Create reservoirs for gas storage.
321	28 June 1970 01:58:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 510 49°48′05″N 78°06′24″E / 49.8015°N 78.1068°E	656 m (2,152 ft) - 332 m (1,089 ft)	underground tunnel, weapons development		88 kt		[1][3][4][5][6][7]
322 - 1	28 June 1970 01:58:??	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 705 49°46′36″N 78°02′59″E / 49.77677°N 78.04981°E	650 m (2,130 ft) +	underground tunnel, peaceful research		unknown yield		[1][4][6][7][8]
322 - 2	28 June 1970 01:58:??	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 705 49°46′36″N 78°02′59″E / 49.77677°N 78.04981°E	650 m (2,130 ft) +	underground tunnel, weapons development		unknown yield		[1][4][6][7][8]
323	21 July 1970 03:02:59.7	ALMT (6 hrs)	Sary-Uzen/Murzhik, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 104 49°57′11″N 77°40′21″E / 49.95295°N 77.67238°E	460 m (1,510 ft) +	underground shaft, weapons development		23 kt		[1][4][5][6][7]
324	24 July 1970 03:57:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 120 49°48′35″N 78°07′42″E / 49.8097°N 78.1284°E	732 m (2,402 ft) +	underground tunnel, weapons development		20 kt		[1][3][4][5][6][7]
326	6 September 1970 04:02:59.9	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 8 49°45′35″N 78°00′19″E / 49.75975°N 78.00533°E	752 m (2,467 ft) +	underground tunnel, peaceful research		34 kt		[1][4][5][6][7]
325	6 September 1970 04:03:??	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 502 49°47′37″N 78°00′19″E / 49.79349°N 78.00537°E	680 m (2,230 ft) +	underground tunnel, weapons development		unknown yield		[1][4][6][7][8]
327 - 1	14 October 1970 05:59:57.57	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-6 73°18′14″N 55°01′37″E / 73.304°N 55.027°E	100 m (330 ft) - 1,200 m (3,900 ft)	underground tunnel, weapons development		2.2 Mt	Venting detected off site, 2 MCi (74 PBq)	[1][5][6][7][10]
327 - 2	14 October 1970 05:59:57.6	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-6 73°18′14″N 55°01′37″E / 73.304°N 55.027°E	100 m (330 ft) +	underground tunnel, weapons development		unknown yield		[1][6][7][8][11]
327 - 3	14 October 1970 05:59:57.6	MSK (3 hrs)	NZ Area B, Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia: A-6 73°18′14″N 55°01′37″E / 73.304°N 55.027°E	100 m (330 ft) +	underground tunnel, weapons development		unknown yield		[1][6][7][8][11]
328	4 November 1970 06:02:59.8	ALMT (6 hrs)	Sary-Uzen/Murzhik, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 125 49°59′22″N 77°45′43″E / 49.98947°N 77.76208°E	460 m (1,510 ft) +	underground shaft, peaceful research		27 kt		[1][4][5][6][7]	Testing of a special explosive for valley cratering, used for the Tiaga event.
329 Say-Utes 6T	12 December 1970 07:00:59.8	SHET (5 hrs)	Mangystau, Kazakhstan: 6T 43°51′04″N 54°46′26″E / 43.851°N 54.774°E	- 740 m (2,430 ft)	underground shaft, industrial		80 kt		[1][5][6][7][8][9]	Alluvial cratering, possibly testing for thermonuke test site.
330	17 December 1970 07:01:00.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 193 49°44′44″N 78°05′57″E / 49.7456°N 78.0992°E	624 m (2,047 ft) +	underground tunnel, weapons development		26 kt		[1][4][5][6][7]
331 Say-Utes 1T	23 December 1970 07:00:59.8	SHET (5 hrs)	Mangystau, Kazakhstan: 1-T 43°53′37″N 54°53′56″E / 43.89355°N 54.89875°E	- 500 m (1,600 ft)	underground shaft, industrial		75 kt		[1][5][6][7][8]	Alluvial cratering, possibly testing for thermonuke test site.

1. A bomb test may be a salvo test, defined as two or more explosions "where a period of time between successive individual explosions does not exceed 5 seconds and where the burial points of all explosive devices can be connected by segments of straight lines, each of them connecting two burial points and does not exceed 40 kilometers in length". Mikhailov, V. N., Editor in Chief. "Catalog of World Wide Nuclear Testing". Begell-Atom, LLC.
2. The US, France and Great Britain have code-named their test events, while the USSR and China did not, and therefore have only test numbers (with some exceptions – Soviet peaceful explosions were named). Word translations into English in parentheses unless the name is a proper noun. A dash followed by a number indicates a member of a salvo event. The US also sometimes named the individual explosions in such a salvo test, which results in "name1 – 1(with name2)". If test is canceled or aborted, then the row data like date and location discloses the intended plans, where known.
3. To convert the UT time into standard local, add the number of hours in parentheses to the UT time; for local daylight saving time, add one additional hour. If the result is earlier than 00:00, add 24 hours and subtract 1 from the day; if it is 24:00 or later, subtract 24 hours and add 1 to the day. All historical timezone data are derived from here:
4. Rough place name and a latitude/longitude reference; for rocket-carried tests, the launch location is specified before the detonation location, if known. Some locations are extremely accurate; others (like airdrops and space blasts) may be quite inaccurate. "~" indicates a likely pro-forma rough location, shared with other tests in that same area.
5. Elevation is the ground level at the point directly below the explosion relative to sea level; height is the additional distance added or subtracted by tower, balloon, shaft, tunnel, air drop or other contrivance. For rocket bursts the ground level is "N/A". In some cases it is not clear if the height is absolute or relative to ground, for example, Plumbbob/John. No number or units indicates the value is unknown, while "0" means zero. Sorting on this column is by elevation and height added together.
6. Atmospheric, airdrop, balloon, gun, cruise missile, rocket, surface, tower, and barge are all disallowed by the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Sealed shaft and tunnel are underground, and remained useful under the PTBT. Intentional cratering tests are borderline; they occurred under the treaty, were sometimes protested, and generally overlooked if the test was declared to be a peaceful use.
7. Include weapons development, weapon effects, safety test, transport safety test, war, science, joint verification and industrial/peaceful, which may be further broken down.
8. Designations for test items where known, "?" indicates some uncertainty about the preceding value, nicknames for particular devices in quotes. This category of information is often not officially disclosed.
9. Estimated energy yield in tons, kilotons, and megatons. A ton of TNT equivalent is defined as 4.184 gigajoules (1 gigacalorie).
10. Radioactive emission to the atmosphere aside from prompt neutrons, where known. The measured species is only iodine-131 if mentioned, otherwise it is all species. No entry means unknown, probably none if underground and "all" if not; otherwise notation for whether measured on the site only or off the site, where known, and the measured amount of radioactivity released.

References

1. Yang, Xiaoping; North, Robert; Romney, Carl (August 2000). CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3) (Technical report). SMDC Monitoring Research.
2. "Timezone Historical Database". iana.com. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
3. Thurber, Clifford; Trabant, Chad; Hartog, Renate. Assessing Event Location Capability with Ground Truth Events at the Degelen Mountain Test Site, Kazakhstan (DSWA01-98-10008). Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Arms Control Technology Division, Nuclear Treaties Branch. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
4. Khalturin, Vitaly I.; Rautian, Tatyana G.; Richards, Paul G. (2000). "Chemical explosions during 1961-1989 on the Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakhstan" (PDF). Pure and Applied Geophysics 158: 143–171. doi:10.1007/pl00001153. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
5. Cochran, Thomas B.; Arkin, William M.; Norris, Robert S.; Sands, Jeffrey I. Nuclear Weapons Databook Vol. IV: Soviet Nuclear Weapons. New York, NY: Harper and Row.
6. Podvig, Pavel, ed. (2001). Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
7. USSR Nuclear Weapons Tests and Peaceful Nuclear Explosions 1949 through 1990. Sarov, Russia: RFNC-VNIIEF. 1996. The official Russian list of Soviet tests.
8. Nuclear explosions in the USSR: The North Test Site reference material, version 4 (PDF) (Technical report). IAEA Dept. of Nuclear Safety and Security. December 1, 2004. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
9. Nordyke, M.D. The Soviet Program for Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Explosions (PDF) (UCRL-ID-12441O Rev 2). Retrieved December 13, 2013.
10. Kim, Won-Young; Richards, Paul G.; Andrushkin, Vitaly; Ovtchinnikov, Vladimir (April 1, 2001). Borovoye digital seismogram archive for underground nuclear tests during 1966-1996 (PDF) (Technical report). LDEO. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
11. Andrushkin, Vitaly V.; Leith, William (September 1, 2001). The containment of Soviet underground nuclear explosions (PDF) (Open File Report 01-312). USGS. Retrieved December 13, 2013.