Operation Totem Operation Totem Operation Totem was a pair of British atmospheric nuclear tests which took place at Emu Field in South Australia on 15 October 1953. They followed the Operation Hurricane test of the first British atomic bomb, which had taken place at the Montebello Islands a year previously. The main purpose of the trial was to determine the acceptable limit on the amount of plutonium-240 which could be present in a bomb. In addition to the two main tests, there was a series of five subcritical tests. These did not produce nuclear explosions, but used conventional explosives, polonium-210, beryllium and
Las Vegas in the 1950s tests began at the Nevada Test Site, north of Las Vegas ( from downtown Las Vegas) on 27 January 1951. After it was shown on television on 22 April 1952, the Las Vegas town and the nation was gripped by the atomic fever and the Chamber of Commerce even brought out a calendar showing the vantage points to view the atomic sites. Atomic Cocktails, Atomic hair-dos, and Miss Atomic Blast beauty contests became popular with people in some of the casinos. Testing continued until the 1963 Test Ban Treaty came into effect and surface testing was banned and underground testing