Project Cannikin Review (1971)

Published on 2022-03-03 | Archived on 2023-11-24

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Project Cannikin Review by United States. Department of Energy. National Nuclear Security Administration.

This video reviews Project CANNIKIN, a nuclear test conducted on Amchitka Island, Alaska, at 11:00 a.m., Bering Standard Time, on November 6, 1971. CANNIKIN, a slightly less-than-five-megaton device, was the largest underground nuclear test conducted in the United States. CANNIKIN was conducted to proof test a warhead for the Spartan missile, a Safeguard Ballistic Missile Defense Program.

The video shows the nuclear device and instrumentation canister being lowered into the shaft, detonation sequences, and test effects. A long-range view of water turbulence after the detonation is shown, but no tsunami or large ocean wave was observed or recorded. Numerous ground shock waves are shown at normal speed and as seen by high-speed, slow-motion cameras located at various sites on the island. Surface effects at ground zero and other island locations were filmed one day after the test. Approximately 38 hours after the test, a subsidence crater, approximately 1.5 miles in diameter and 55 feet deep, began to form. Many scenes in the video have no sound intentionally; no material was deleted.

The three underground nuclear tests conducted on Amchitka Island, Alaska, were as follows:

• LONG SHOT, October 29, 1965, shaft, Vela Uniform Project, approximately 80 kilotons
• MILROW, October 2, 1969, shaft, weapons related, approximately 1 megaton (Mt)
• CANNIKIN, November 6, 1971, shaft, weapons related, less than 5 Mt

Publication date 1971, Project Cannikin, Amchitka Island, Project Long Shot, Milrow 0800041 - PROJECT CANNIKIN REVIEW 1971 Color 13:00