Test Readiness Program: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:03, 3 February 2008

Revision as of 23:46, 23 December 2009

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==History of the program==

===Events leading to the program===

From 1958 to 1961, as the world powers negotiated a treaty to ban all testing of nuclear weapons except underground, there was a major push in both the U.S. and the [[Soviet Union]] to complete as much development and testing of nuclear weapons as possible before such work was prohibited. Anticipating the upcoming treaty, a moratorium went into effect in 1961 halting all testing. However, in September, 1961, the Soviets broke the moratorium, performing 45 nuclear test events in two months, culminating with a 60-megaton blast on [[October 30]], [[1961]], the largest at the time. When the Soviets broke the moratorium, the U.S. was not prepared to resume testing, and an immense effort was launched to get the test program back up and running, but even so, it wasn't until April, 1962, that America was able to perform their first post-moratorium tests (Operations Dominic and Fishbowl). Besides the work to prepare and launch the weapon, a tremendous amount of work is needed to prepare and deploy the various scientific data-gathering and analysis systems, so that the test results can be captured and studied.<ref name="sandia1">{{cite web |url=http://www.sandia.gov/recordsmgmt/exhibits/ReadinessProgram.pdf |title=Readiness Program |accessdate=2007-03-22 |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format=PDF |work= |publisher=Sandia National Laboratories |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= }}</ref>

Following the resumption of Soviet testing, President [[John F. Kennedy]] said, "The Soviet Union prepared to test while we were at the table negotiating with them. If they fooled us once, it is their fault, and if they fool us twice, it is our fault."<ref name="sandia1"/>

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==References==

{{reflistReflist}}

==See also==