Cactus Dome, Operation HARDTACK and the Pacific Proving Ground, Marshall Islands
"Between 1946 and 1962, the US military conducted 105 atmospheric nuclear tests over the "Pacific Proving Grounds," a euphemism for the Marshall Islands and several other nearby South Pacific atolls.
In the late 1970s, in an effort to clean up the radioactive debris left by those explosions, the US government dug up 111,000 cubic yards of soil from the Bikini and Rongelap atolls and deposited it on Runit Island. Its resting place would be in a 350-foot wide crater that had been created two decades earlier by an 18-kiloton nuclear test code-named Cactus.
Covering up that giant radioactive pit cost the government nearly a quarter of a billion dollars and took three years to complete. The result: an enormous, foot-and-a-half-thick, 100,000-square-foot dome consisting of 358 gigantic concrete panels. Despite signs warning off visitors, it is still possible to make landfall on Runit and stomp across the Cactus Dome. Bring a Geiger counter !"
"Operation HARDTACK I consisted of 35 nuclear tests conducted at the Pacific Proving Ground between April 28 and August 18, 1958. These tests included balloon, surface, barge, underwater, and rocket-borne high-altitude tests. The first test, Yucca, was a nuclear device attached to a helium balloon launched from the USS Boxer near Enewetak Atoll.
The tests comprising the 1958 Operation HARDTACK I were as follows:
YUCCA, April 28, Pacific (between Enewetak and Bikini), balloon, weapons effects, 1.7 kilotons (kt)
CACTUS, May 5, Enewetak, surface, weapons related, 18 kt
FIR, May 11, near Bikini, barge, weapons related, 1.36 megatons (Mt)
BUTTERNUT, May 11, near Enewetak, barge, weapons related, 81 kt
KOA, May 12, Enewetak, surface, weapons related, l.37 Mt
WAHOO, May 16, near Enewetak, underwater, weapons effects, 9 kt
HOLLY, May 20, near Enewetak, barge, weapons related, 5.9 kt
NUTMEG, May 21, near Bikini, barge, weapons related, 25.1 kt
YELLOWWOOD, May 26, near Enewetak, barge, weapons related, 330 kt
MAGNOLIA, May 26, near Enewetak, barge, weapons related, 57 kt
TOBACCO, May 30, near Enewetak, barge, weapons related, 11.6 kt
SYCAMORE, May 31, near Bikini, barge, weapons related, 92 kt
ROSE, June 2, near Enewetak, barge, weapons related, 15 kt
UMBRELLA, June 8, near Enewetak, underwater, weapons effects, 8 kt
MAPLE, June 10, near Bikini, barge, weapons related, 213 kt
ASPEN, June 14, near Bikini, barge, weapons related, 319 kt
WALNUT, June 14, near Enewetak, barge, weapons related, 1.45 Mt
LINDEN, June 18, near Enewetak, barge, weapons related, 11 kt
REDWOOD, June 27, near Bikini, barge, weapons related, 412 kt
ELDER, June 27, near Enewetak, barge, weapons related, 880 kt
OAK, June 28, near Enewetak, barge, weapons related, 8.9 Mt
HICKORY, June 29, near Bikini, barge, weapons related, 14 kt
SEQUOIA, July 1, near Enewetak, barge, weapons related, 5.2 kt
CEDAR, July 2, near Bikini, barge, weapons related, 220 kt
DOGWOOD, July 5, near Enewetak, barge, weapons related, 397 kt
POPLAR, July 12, near Bikini, barge, weapons related, 9.3 Mt
SCAEVOLA, July 14, near Enewetak, barge, safety experiment, zero yield
PISONIA, July 17, near Enewetak, barge, weapons related, 255 kt
JUNIPER, July 22, near Bikini, barge, weapons related, 65 kt
OLIVE, July 22, near Enewetak, barge, weapons related, 202 kt
PINE, July 26, near Enewetak, barge, weapons related, 2 Mt
TEAK, August 1, off Johnston Island area, rocket, weapons effects, 3.8 Mt
QUINCE, August 6, Enewetak, surface, weapons related, zero yield
ORANGE, August 12, off Johnston Island area, rocket, weapons effects, 3.8 Mt
FIG, August 18, Enewetak, surface, weapons related, 20 tons"
