Large image view: Amchitka's nuclear legacy

United States Atomic Energy Commission, Dr. James A. Schlesinger, Chairman. Operation Cannikin, November 6, 1971. As a test of the warhead for the Spartan missile of the Safeguard Ballistic Missile Defense program, Operation Cannikin was detonated to measure the yield of the device, measure the x-ray flux and spectrum, and assure deployment of a reliable design. The Cannikin test of a nuclear device of under five megatons was detonated at a depth of 5,875 feet in volcanic breccia within a mined 52-foot diameter spherical cavity.

No excavating, drilling and/or removal of materials is permitted without U.S. Government approval, between the ground surface and minus 6,200 feet below mean sea level and out to a horizontal distance of 3,000 feet from the surface ground zero location, N5,704,186 meters, E646,322 meters. Any reentry into drill holes within this horizontal restricted area is prohibited.

Credit: photo courtesy Mark Johnson, UAF.
Filename: Johnson-Cannikin-Ground-Zero.JPG

Return to thumbnails

Return to feature story

---

All images in the UAF Newsroom are protected by copyright and may not be downloaded or used without permission. If you are interested in obtaining permission to use an image from this feature story, please contact Doug Schneider, Alaska Sea Grant College Program.