In 1962, a US government test caused a massive electromagnetic pulse that knocked out all of the streetlights in Hawaii. That same test also disabled at least eight low-orbit satellites and created a radiation belt that encircled the Earth for years. This Cold War-era embarrassment is a tale of risk and repercussions that will not be easily forgotten.

The Cold War Heats Up

In the 1960s, Russian-American tensions were strong and the nuclear race was in full sprint. On September 1, 1961, Nikita Khrushchev announced that he was ending a 3-year Soviet moratorium on nuclear testing. He followed that announcement by testing the Tsar Bomba, a 50-megaton thermonuclear device that was the largest-ever nuclear weapon at the time.

President John F. Kennedy responded by authorizing Operation Dominic, a series of over 20 separate nuclear bomb drops to test weapons design, effects, and reliability. Included in Operation Dominic was a string of high-altitude tests nicknamed Operation Fishbowl, which were designed to follow up on a previous set of high-altitude tests conducted in 1958. A Defense Atomic Support Agency report stated that the 1958 tests were "…poorly instrumented and hastily executed. Despite thorough studies of the meager data, present models of these bursts are sketchy and tentative. These models are too uncertain to permit extrapolation to other altitudes and yields with any confidence. Thus there is a strong need… for further tests covering a range of altitudes and yields."¹⁴

Starfish Prime

Starfish Prime was a 1.4-megaton nuclear device that was supposed to be the third in the high-altitude series of tests. Due to mechanical failures, it was the first device in Operation Fishbowl to actually detonate. Operation Fishbowl was based on Johnston Island in the north Pacific, which was chosen in response to the potential threat of flash-blindness for nearby populations of other testing sites. In addition, the rocket was launched away from Hawaii to further reduce the threat, demonstrating that some thought was given to potential consequences of the Starfish Prime detonation. Starfish Prime was launched July 9, 1962 and detonated at 400 km (250 miles) above the earth.

The Effects

The effects of Starfish Prime were immediate and unfortunately, unforeseen. In Hawaii, 800 miles east of the test site, a massive electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from the detonation knocked out streetlights, destroyed circuit breakers, set off alarms, and disrupted telephone service.  The Starfish Prime explosion also created an artificial aurora that lasted over seven minutes and could be seen all the way to New Zealand.

It appears that if a risk analysis was done on Starfish Prime or Operation Fishbowl, the radiation levels and effects in the atmosphere were vastly underestimated. The thermonuclear device caused massive ionization in the upper atmosphere, and released enormous amounts of electrons into the magnetosphere. Radiation damage from the explosion disabled at least eight low-orbiting satellites. Since both the United States and the Soviet Union had classified satellites in low earth orbit at the time, it is possible that the number of accidentally-disabled satellites was much higher.

One of the disabled satellites was the world’s first major communications array, the Telstar 1. It had been designed to withstand radiation from the earth’s natural van Allen radiation belts but could do nothing to stand up against the colossal dose of radiation from Starfish Prime. It was later revealed that the Telstar team had a list of risks associated with the low-orbit satellite, among which a massive radiation event such as Starfish Prime ranked number 37.

The detonation also created a new radiation belt around the planet that lasted for a decade. In comparison, a 1977 study concluded that “with the exception of the Starfish Prime high-altitude test…observed lifetimes of nuclear-pumped radiation belts are reported to be on the order of one month.”²  The radiation was of particular concern to the American government because the Mercury space mission was scheduled to launch in October of 1962, just 3 short months after the July Starfish Prime explosion. In September 1962, President Kennedy postponed further nuclear testing until after the mission due to radiation concerns. The mission was launched on October 3, 1962, and orbited the earth six times before splashing down in the Pacific. NASA officials later revealed that the Mercury pilot, Walter Schirra, would have been killed by residual Starfish Prime radiation if he had flown above 640 km.

Lessons Learned

Consider the entire environment surrounding your actions

Johnston Island was a perfect test location. Remote and without a large population, there was little on the ground that could be threatened by a nuclear device. Unfortunately it appears that the engineers and scientists failed to fully account for the above-ground environment, including the effects on the atmosphere and low-orbiting satellites. When running a risk analysis, it is important to consider all dimensions of your space, including the space above and below the action, to fully understand how the entire environment may be affected.

Policies and procedures must change with technology

Technology advances at a fast clip. It is possible that the Operation Fishbowl team was using new technology that packed a much larger punch than older nuclear weapons, while failing to update the procedures surrounding the weapon’s use. Regardless of the industry, if your policies and procedures are more than a few years old, they should be reassessed for changes related to enhanced technology. Technology and the policies governing its use should be in a continuous cycle of improvement to keep risks as low as reasonably practicable.

Constant vigilance and communication is key

President Kennedy halted nuclear testing prior to the Mercury mission for the astronaut’s safety. He could not have done so without a team of advisors watching the fallout and communicating the dangers to the presidential office. No action is without its dangers, and even after a risk analysis has been done and operations are underway it is important to reassess and adapt to new conditions even if it means postponing other operations.

References

1. Burr, William, and Montford, Hector L., ed. 2003.”The Making of the Limited Test Ban Treaty, 1958-1963.” The National Security Archive. Web. Accessed 21 November 2011. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB94/ 

2. Conrad, Edward E., Gurtman, Gerald A., Kweder, Glenn, Mandell, Myron J., and White, Willard W. 2010. Collateral Damage to Satellites from an EMP Attack. Final Report. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Fort Belvoir, VA (August 2010). Web. Accessed 21 November 2011. http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA531197&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

3. “Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP).” Division of Environmental Health Office of Radiation Protection. Washington State Department of Health. Web. Accessed 21 November 2011. http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/rp/factsheets/factsheets-htm/fs41elecpuls.htm

4. “Electromagnetic Pulse.” National Digital Science Library. Atomicarchive.com. Web. Accessed 21 November 2011. http://www.atomicarchive.com/Effects/effects21.shtml

5. “Ending Nuclear Testing.” International Day Against Nuclear Tests. United Nations. Web. Accessed 21 November 2011. http://www.un.org/en/events/againstnucleartestsday/history.shtml#a22

6. Harland, David M and Lorenz, Fralph D. 2005. Space System Failures. New York: Springer.

7. Hess, Wilmot N. 1964. The Effects of High Altitude Explosions. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC (September 1964). Web. Accessed 21 November 2011. http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19640018807_1964018807.pdf

8. “James Early/TELSTAR.” Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation. Web. Accessed 21 November 2011. http://www.smecc.org/james_early___telstar.htm

9. “Operation Dominic.” Nuclear Weapons Archive. Web. Accessed 21 November 2011. http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Dominic.html

10. “Operation Dominic I and II.” Wikipedia.org. Web. Accessed 21 November 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dominic_I_and_II

11. “Operation Fishbowl.” Wikipedia.org. Web. Accessed 21 November 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fishbowl#cite_note-DNA1-2

12. Rodger, C.J., Clilverd, M.A., Ulich, Th., Verronen, P.T., Turunen, E., and Thomson, N.R. 2006. The atmospheric implications of radiation belt remediation. Annales Geophyslcae 24:2025-2041. Web. Accessed 21 November 2011. http://www.ann-geophys.net/24/2025/2006/angeo-24-2025-2006.pdf

13. “Starfish Prime.” Wikipedia.com. Web. Accessed 21 November 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime

14. Starfish Prime, Sanitized Version. August 1962 (released 1989). Defense Atomic Support Agency. Web. Accessed 21 November 2011. http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA955694&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

15. “Tsar Bomba.” Wikipedia.org. Web. Accessed 21 November 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba

16. Vittitoe, Charles N. Did 1989. High-Altitude EMP Cause the Hawaiian Streetlight Incident? Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM (June 1989). Web. Accessed 21 November 2011. http://www.ece.unm.edu/summa/notes/SDAN/0031.pdf

Photo credits:

“Operation Fishbowl rockets” 1962. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fishbowlrockets.jpg 

“Starfish Prime as seen from a plane.” 1962. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Operation_Dominic_Starfish-Prime_nuclear_test_from_plane.jpg 

“Starfish Prime explosion as seen from Hawaii through clouds.” 1962. Wikipedia.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Starfish_Prime_aurora_from_Honolulu_1.jpg 

“Digital representation of van Allen radiation belts.” NPR. http://www.examiner.com/blogosphere-buzz-in-national/a-diagram-of-earth-s-van-allen-radiation-belts 

Contact the ERM North America Risk Practice Group, a global leader in assessments of engineering design and operations safety for hazardous facilities. The Risk Practice conducts facility siting, consequence analysis, process hazard assessments, hazard identification, and a host of other safety and hazard analysis.

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