This Day in Nuclear Testing

[mhansen2]

25 December

1962 – Two Soviet nuclear tests. Shots 220, 221. Shot 221 was the last Soviet atmospheric test.
1962 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1975 – Soviet nuclear test. Shot 435.
1975 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1982 – Two Soviet nuclear tests. Shots 605-1,-2.
1982 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

 

[mhansen2]

26 December

1977 – Five Soviet nuclear tests. Shots 479, 480-1 thru -4.
1977 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1980 – Soviet nuclear test. Shot 565.
1980 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1982 – Two Soviet nuclear tests. Shots 606-1,-2.
1982 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1983 – Soviet nuclear test. Shot 631.
1983 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

 

[mhansen2]

27 December

1960 – France nuclear test. Shot Gerboise Rouge, Operation Reggane.
Reggane series, French nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1968 – China nuclear test. Shot CHIC-8.
List of nuclear weapons tests of China - Wikipedia

1974 – Soviet nuclear test. Shot 416.
1974 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1980 – Two Soviet nuclear tests. Shots 566-1,-2.
1980 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1981 – Soviet nuclear test. Shot 587.
1981 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1987 – Two Soviet nuclear tests. Shots 691-1,-2.
1987 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1995 – France nuclear test. Shot Themisto.
1995–96 French nuclear tests - Wikipedia

 

[mhansen2]

28 December

1957 - Soviet nuclear test. Shot 49 (Joe 43).
1957 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1966 – China nuclear test. Shot CHIC-5.
List of nuclear weapons tests of China - Wikipedia

1969 – Soviet nuclear test. Shot 314.
1969 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1972 – Soviet nuclear test. Shot 378.
1972 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1976 – US nuclear test. Shot Rudder, Operation Fulcrum.
Operation Fulcrum - Wikipedia

1984 – Two Soviet nuclear tests. Shots 658-1,-2.
1984 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1985 – US nuclear test. Shot Goldstone, Operation Charioteer.
Operation Charioteer - Wikipedia

1988 – Two Soviet nuclear tests. Shots 707-1,-2.
1988 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

 

[mhansen2]

29 December

1969 – Soviet nuclear test. Shot 315.
1969 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

 

[mhansen2]

30 December

1971 – Two Soviet nuclear tests. Shots 353 and 354.
1971 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1973 – Soviet nuclear test. Shot 395.
1973 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1976 – Two Soviet nuclear tests. Shots 456-1, -2.
1976 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

 

[mhansen2]

31 December

1973 - Soviet nuclear test. Shot 395.
1973 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

 

[mhansen2]

1 - 2 January

No tests.

 

[mhansen2]

3 January

1976 – US nuclear test. Shot Muenster, Operation Anvil.
Operation Anvil (nuclear test) - Wikipedia

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Chuck Hansen...your father?

 

[mhansen2]

No. Unfortunately we're not related.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

My father knew who he was.
He was a nuclear physicist.

 

[mhansen2]

I hadn't heard he was a nuclear physicist, only that he was a researcher who had amassed huge numbers of unclassified documents from original sources on the history of nuclear weapons developed in the US.

Chuck Hansen - Wikipedia

index.htm

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

He wasn't a physicist but he was the talk of the nuke geek community, that's for sure.
My father worked on a lot of the projects you have listed, starting with Plumbbob, or maybe even one or two before that. His specialty was weapons effects, and he went on to develop pulse reactor simulators and nuclear hardening for electronics.
I have hundreds of certificates and ephemera from all the tests he worked on.

 

[mhansen2]

If he told you any stories about the tests, you are very lucky.

 

[mhansen2]

4 January

1958 - Soviet nuclear test. Shot 50 (Joe 44)
1958 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

If he told you any stories about the tests, you are very lucky.

A few...
I don't remember the name of the shot he was working on in 1957, it might have been "Operation Diagonal Line", (not sure) but he was gone for a couple of months and grew a goatee. I was maybe three years old. Among other things, they were using PIGS to test certain weapons effects. The leftover animals that didn't get irradiated became lunch. (see picture)
He arrived back home, and apparently I saw the goatee and didn't recognize him, and wouldn't have anything to do with him. Therefore, he shaved it off.
Funny thing is, I wear one now and I guess I am almost a dead ringer for the old man now.

 

[mhansen2]

5 January

1972 – US nuclear test. Shot Mescalero, Operation Grommet.
Operation Grommet - Wikipedia

2016 – North Korea nuclear test. Shot (4).
List of nuclear weapons tests of North Korea - Wikipedia

 

[mhansen2]

6 January

No tests

 

[mhansen2]

7 January

1968 – Soviet nuclear test. Shot 280.
1968 Soviet nuclear tests - Wikipedia

1972 – China nuclear test. Shot CHIC-13.
List of nuclear weapons tests of China - Wikipedia