Operation DOMINIC Nuclear Tests 1962
About this film
This Dominic I video provides a visual overview of 36 atmospheric nuclear devices detonated in the Pacific Proving Ground from April to November 1962. It was the last atmospheric nuclear test series conducted by the United States. Also, Dominic I was the largest and most elaborate U.S. testing operation ever conducted. In geographic terms, the diagnostic stations receiving data from the tests covering more than 15 million square miles. According to the video, Operation Dominic I was prompted by the "Soviet resumption of testing in 1961 after a three-year moratorium." The three main purposes of the series were the "proof testing" of new weapon designs, mainly thermonuclear; obtaining weapons effects data as it related to the electromagnetic pulse phenomenon and attenuation of radar; and obtaining data related to the offensive and defensive aspects of an incoming ballistic missile in a detonation environment. Dominic I tests were conducted in three general locations: Johnston Island, airdrop and high-altitude detonations; Christmas Island, staging area for 24 airdrop tests; and the open ocean, launch of a Polaris missile from a submarine and subsequent detonation of a device in a ree…
Directors & creators
Joint Task Force 8
Subjects
Operation Dominic; Dominic;atomic;nuclear;Cuba;Cuban Missile Crisis;John Kennedy;Nikita Kruschev;Cold War;atomic testing;nuclear testing;1962;military;Eniwetok;Enewetak;Eniwetak;Bikini;Bikini Atoll;Pacific Proving Ground;national defense;Department of Defense;Department of Energy;radiation;radioactivity;fallout;radioactive;thermonuclear test;thermonuclear