In 1971, on which island was the largest underground test of nuclear weapons ever conducted by the USA?
Underground nuclear weapons testing Following analysis of underwater detonations that were part of Operation Crossroads in 1946, inquiries were made regarding the possible military value of an underground explosion. The Joint Chiefs of Staff thus obtained the agreement of the Atomic Energy Commission to perform experiments on both surface and sub-surface detonations. The island of Amchitka was initially selected for these tests in 1950, but the site was later deemed unsuitable and the tests were moved to the Nevada Test Site. The first underground nuclear test was conducted on 29 November 1951. This was the 1.2 kiloton "Buster-Jangle Uncle", which detonated 5.2 m (17
Underground nuclear weapons testing began in May 1955 on the subject of an international agreement to end nuclear tests. On August 5, 1963, representatives of the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty, forbidding testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in space, and underwater. Agreement was facilitated by the decision to allow underground testing, eliminating the need for on-site inspections that concerned the Soviets. Underground testing was allowed, provided that it does not cause "radioactive debris to be present outside the territorial limits of the State under whose jurisdiction or control such explosion is conducted".