ATOMIC BOMB TESTS IN MERCURY, NEVADA HISTORIC FILM 40982

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Made in the 1950s, this Atomic Energy Commission film takes place at the AEC's Nevada test site as well as in the adjacent community of St. George, Utah (located over 135 miles distant). The organization of the tests are shown, emphasizing range safety and procedures, and an explanation is offered as to why the tests are so important to national security. Various atomic bomb effects are also discussed.
The M65 Atomic Cannon, often called Atomic Annie, is shown being tested as part of Operation Upshot-Knothole. This was a series of eleven nuclear test shots conducted in 1953 at the Nevada Test Site. It followed Operation Ivy and preceded Operation Castle.
Over 21,000 soldiers took part in the ground exercise Desert Rock V in conjunction with the Grable shot. Grable was a 280mm shell fired from the “Atomic Cannon” and was viewed by a number of high-ranking military officials.
The test series was notable as containing the first time an atomic artillery shell was fired (shot Grable), the first two shots (both fizzles) by University of California Radiation Laboratory-Livermore (now Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), and for testing out some of the thermonuclear components that would be used for the massive thermonuclear series of Operation Castle.
As the film shows, some of the tests produced fallout that drifted over St. George, resulting in warnings to the populace to stay indoors for a period of time. The film was likely created in responses to the growing sense of fear expressed by residents, particularly after a 1953 test of a 32-kiloton atomic bomb went awry. The bomb was code named Harry, but local residents gave it the nick name Dirty Harry after massive amounts of fallout blanketed the surrounding area. Exploding on the Yucca Flat, Harry had a blast three times the size of the Hiroshima bomb.
Winds carried the fallout 135 miles to the town of St. George, UT. The AEC had set up monitors in the town which detected readings of 6,000 milliroentgens. Many of the people who were outside and downwind reported feeling ill on the day of the blast. People complained of headaches, fever, thirst, dizziness, loss of appetite, general malaise, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, hair loss, discoloration of fingernails, hemorrhaging, and burns to exposed skin. All of these are symptoms of radiation sickness and indicate exposure to relativity high doses of radiation. Residents of St. George reported a strange metallic taste in the air. This same phenomenon would be recorded at Three Mile Island 26 years later.
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[@charlesgoede2809]

Didn't we used to be able to watch these without all the gad damn commercials?

[@redzipper8570]

uBlock Origin

[@paulsimpson6899]

Yes, the good old days of KZbin.

[@Hackanhacker]

Wait ahahahahah Are we talking about old time tv or KZbin lol cause its been 10 years i dont have ads in my place !! lmao

[@drumdude46]

Radio Advisory: "there is NO danger!" Lol!

[@acoffeewithsatan]

Just stay at home for an hour or so, no big deal, but stay inside and advice your friends to do the same as well!

[@choppertimberland139]

Just like the covid now lol

[@tjlovesrachel]

@@choppertimberland139 I’ll take covid over radiation anyday

[@magnificentmuttley154]

Just like "Duck & Cover" ☢️

[@normankimball9308]

After all, what can go wrong? Go wrong?... go wrong? wrooonnng?...

[@502Chevy]

The AEC’s attitude seems to be “a little bit of radiation is good for a man….”

[@almostfm]

Not necessarily "good", but unavoidable

[@drlong08]

Keeps your teeth nice and white!!

[@adambomb8324]

Every single sentence was subjective on purpose. Generalities instead of solid numbers. Every one of their fancy adjectives were purposefully placed to sound official without disclosing ANY actual facts or half truths to be manipulated as it fits their narrative. CYA tactics for legal purposes.

[@stp434343]

My dad was a MP at Sandias base in New Mexico at this time and one of this jobs was to drive convos up to Mercury for these test. My goodness he had great stories

[@TheCrossroads533]

"A backyard workshop." How quant.

[@russellmooneyham3334]

"They" said it's "ok". Whew! I was getting a little worried! Smh

[@stoneystark5421]

so that's how people in old Las Vegas were able to see the detonations.

[@buggyapp]

'Is it dangerous? Yes, right now you wouldn't want to go into it.'. Oh, that's why they waited for an hour before they sent my father to ground zero in 1952. They took safety real seriously folks! Just ask my two dead brothers.

[@fredharvey2720]

Safety being to wait for winds to carry it away from large population centers onto small towns like St George that got obliterated.

[@towguy8012]

My family are part of the down winders. We are from st George utah

[@fredharvey2720]

Thyroid and leukemias in your family?

[@towguy8012]

@@fredharvey2720 I don't recall all of them

[@factory81ch]

Any extra eyes or limbs?

[@spikespa5208]

20 years in St. George. One of the first things found was the atmospheric testing station on the sidewalk in front of Dixie State U. And the government still wonders why the public disbelieves 50% of what it says. And thinks the other half is bs.

[@jamesmurray8558]

My cousin took me to the atomic museum. Awesome!.

[@c.mckenzie2155]

The public was duped while this was going on and people were happy to get paid for working there yet many got cancer including my father who built the structures in Mercury. He just wanted to provide for his family.

[@devoid24]

Yeah, what a bunch of liars.. that radio announcement is a prime example.. "nothing to worry about", and "no harm.....", totally lied and got away with it. Sorry they murdered your father. Wish there was recourse for you to nail all those involved in this mass lie, and cover up.

[@sigsin1]

And the woman who got a letter from the AEC telling her that her daughter’s death was a small sacrifice to pay to protect our country. Hmm, it was THEIR sacrifice.

[@c.mckenzie2155]

@@sigsin1 They are still trying to hide what they did and not pay anyone. Now these companies changed their name to Amentum and are an environmental clean up co. How does that work?

[@fredharvey2720]

Lots of folks offsite got hit with bad fallout and started losing hair and there were leukemia clusters in schools. Read "The Day We Bombed Utah." It's online at the Internet Archive.

[@fredharvey2720]

Did your dad just work in Mercury or elsewhere? What about structures in the testing area?

[@kronovore3583]

The Atomic Energy Commission very craftily covering its ass. In memory of all Desert Rock veterans and 'downwinders' who died as a result of exposure to ionising radiation from the nuclear tests at Nevada. The very concept of 'tactical' nuclear weapons is abhorrent to me.

[@spikespa5208]

The government still wonders why many disbelieve 50% of what it says. And thinks the other half is bull.

[@4622201]

6:16 Dr. Alvin Graves who was present in the demon core incident room

[@kablammy7]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, as of July 1, 2022, the population of St. George city, Utah is 102,519 people1. I hope that helps!

[@KDill29]

Wait wait wait, holdup for a second. Let's go back to that radio announcement about staying inside due to the radiation cloud changing direction with the wind. Come again?

[@RickyJr46]

"Shelter in place" is an effective protection strategy when conditions warrant it. A similar approach could be used for a toxic chemical accident. You might be safer staying inside than going out into the passing cloud. Or getting into an automobile accident while trying to escape!

[@donlove3741]

Hide from the Covid scamdemic!

[@davedixon2068]

its OK Americans today wouldnt take any notice of the warnings because it comes from the government and they always lie or its so that the industrial ,military complex can experiment to see if there is an increase in any diseases, so we will just take them to court.

[@kathytownsend6378]

lots of people with thyroid and other cancers Thanks a lot, AEC.

[@DouglasUrantia]

many with prostate and breast cancer and other cancers

[@magnificentmuttley154]

Even as kids doing "Duck & Cover" drills, we told ourselves "Whats the point? If a nuclear shockwave comes anywhere near us, there's nothing to protect us from radiation." And we could have went into the school basement, but it wouldve been impossible to live down there long enough to wait until outside radiation decayed to a safe level

[@billinct860]

Now we all have strontium 90 and cesium in our bones too.

[@jayc2469]

1:26 _Old stuff_ eh?!! People in that area are *still* paying the price of being Upwind from the Nevada Test Site

[@fredharvey2720]

Downwind

[@science2261]

Very interesting very information video

[@buba03]

Fallout was born.

[@marioquerfeld8133]

Chief Tapatio .o

[@michaelpanico9398]

I just love the casual approach to nuke fallout. Getting irradiated for freedom!

[@ingorichter649]

Very interesting and informative historic documentation. Thanks for sharing

[@markbell9742]

Narrator Ray Walston, 'My Favorite Martian'.

[@RobertWestfall-w3k]

I grew up in Vegas. Dad passed away from work at Mercury.

[@MrJohnisthename]

What I find interesting is there was no delay between the Flash and the sound of the explosion.

[@MatthewLangsley]

Well spotted and interesting you should point this out. According to the Wikipedia page for the Upshot-Knothole Grable test (the atomic canon firing an atomic shell shown here, and the only test of this kind the Americans ever did), the shell detonated 19 seconds after being fired. Yet on the very same Wiki page, the famous newsreel footage of the test available has only a few seconds between canon recoil and bright air-burst flash. We have to conclude that any such films released for public viewing were all, to one degree or another, edited or framed in various ways. This was not necessarily for the purposes of deceit - people expect a bang with their flash, even though we all know about the relation between thunder and lightening from our childhood, people don't want to wait 19 seconds, etc. - but then again, public information films like this one clearly had propaganda purposes in mind and so were likely to undergo major treatment. Arguably, time delays between flash and boom might provide researchers with sensitive information about the tests - distances, kilo-tonnage - that the military might have been perceived as being issues of national security worth protecting (or deliberating subverting as misinformation). That, too, might have motivated what is always clearly carefully curated footage of all US atomic testing. Anyway, delay or no delay, I'm glad I wasn't there to see in person as one of those conscripts asked to watch the explosion from a few miles away and then start marching towards that cloud...

[@tymader8927]

22:40 "the AEC doesn't take chances with safety "

[@choppertimberland139]

Not at all, none what so ever. lol

[@fredharvey2720]

Their idea of safety was wait for the winds to take it away from Vegas and LA.

[@Hackanhacker]

Yeah man the diversion is incredible lmao They didnt take chance cause they disnt care anyway lmao

[@Hackanhacker]

There Is no lie in that sentence, I cant see whats wrong LMAO

[@fensoxx]

Insane this was OK. Taking advantage of ignorance.

[@JasonLambek]

Among the least known regions of the good ole USA, ”The Lekemia Belt”.

[@tjlovesrachel]

Leukemia

[@SB-hy9iq]

Radioactive beef. Yummy…

[@robertmethia7080]

i love it have a smoke and shut up!

[@gettotheGate]

Yes, have a few packs of cigarettes. Then blame your consequences on the government down the line. Certainly had nothing to do with the smoking, no siree bob.

[@devoid24]

What a bunch of liars.. that radio announcement is a prime example.. "nothing to worry about", and "no hard..", totally lied and got away with it.

[@ronleblanc1094]

r.i.p john wayne and all those filming and living in st. george(see "the conqueror" on wiki)

[@TheRoland444]

They were sure "conquered."

[@gettotheGate]

Yes, rest in peace to the man who died of an aggressive cancer that surely has nothing at all to do with the 4-6 PACKS of cigarettes he smoked DAILY.

[@countdown2xstacy]

“Fill it with Ethyl ! …if Ethel don’t mind”

[@TheRoland444]

Tetraethyl lead actually, they avoided the word "lead." Ethyl was an Ethyl Corporation trademark. In the documentary, an American Oil Company logo was modified to de-proprietize the logo to a generic form.

[@TheRoland444]

At 1.08 time mark

[@KristaAMartin]

Cool!

[@mrvaportrailz]

"The AEC doesn't take chances on safety" lol What a bunch of dancing and sugar coating and lies.

[@choppertimberland139]

Typical govt nonsense lol

[@choppertimberland139]

Wouldnt it be cool if they just said how it was like, "Hey dumbasses of st. In the middle of nowhere, we just blew some shit up and its about to rain nuclear shit all over you poor sobs. Take cover, but it prolly wont help. Look forward to dying of cancer."

[@trivet1970]

dont worry you are all safe

[@highrx]

It seems like a lost opportunity not to name a nuclear test shot “Humdinger”?

[@할렐루야김]

I found an engineer checking the camera looking comfortable without wearing a mask ~ Engineers are needed in science fiction movies ~

[@tgmelinda7544]

Sounds more like some weird car lots ad pitching a new car and the features.

[@wazd4661]

Yes, Cancer

[@GeorgeAndrews-v3h]

Good start. Narrator says 3am when town clock reads 5. You know the rest is going to be BS

[@az_dogwhisperer520]

Ever been to the Nevada Test Site? There's no life. Not an ant,not a fly, NOTHING LIVES.

[@fensoxx]

Holy Christ the propaganda is enough to make me vomit.

[@Hackanhacker]

Its insane lmao

[@tremorist]

Hello, I'm Troy McClure...

[@aquilarossa5191]

Atomic cannon audio is dodgy. The sound of the explosion occurs simultaneously with the flash. There would be a few seconds delay before the blast is heard.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Yes but that's routinely how it is done in movies ... there is almost never a realistic delay is there.

[@apocyldoomer]

@ 1:02, old J.C. Penny, now bankrupt.

[@jefferylongoria1081]

Wow how many people believed they were safe government with no accountability just throw out some money with lies ask the citizens of st. George and all the downwinders. Sad

[@kxp.1496]

This is interesting this is what Kim Jon un or what ever its name is is about this curve about now 70 years behind what these guys was messing around with in the 50's maybe he watched this show

[@TheUnshownVideos-Hoaxes-FalseF]

Notice that they don't show the alleged A bomb detonate. I wonder why. Could it be that it was just a massive pile of dynamite and the detonations would have lookedlike that earlier but smaller mass of dynamite being detonated.

[@ct6502c]

Let me guess, you also think the Earth is flat.

[@TheUnshownVideos-Hoaxes-FalseF]

@@ct6502c No, but can you prove me wrong? The argument you have given is worthless. There is no footage of the A bombs allegedly dropped on Japan falling nor footage of their detonations. You would have expected the US government to gather all the data it could on that momentous event for mankind but no! The videos of A bomb tests show the blast wave coming from behind the camera! So the A bomb can destroy buildings but not a camera on a tripod! The big glow you see on the A bomb test videos is just the lens zooming in on the setting or rising sun. The total flattening, except for a few bricks and concrete buildings, of the two allegedly A bombed Japanese cities was achieved by incendiaries and explosives which levelled them as most buildings were timber unlike the buildings in Dresden which were either not destroyed or only partially destroyed as they were brick mortar and stone but if they had all been timber Dresden and other fire bombed German cities would have been vast seas of flat debris just like Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And why do we see in the photos of the flattened allegedly A bombed cities, a number of bricks and mortar buildings which were not destroyed but only burned out? Why was the A bomb not powerful enough to destroy them? They were not destroyed because the bombs with conventional payloads missed them but they were burned out by the firestorm. After the blanket firebombing combined with explosive bombing the smoke cloud arising from the burning cities was filmed and presented as a mushroom cloud from an A bomb. Japan surrendered because the Red Army invaded Manchuria and was preparing to invade Japan. Tokyo was fire bombed by B29s yet it did not result in a Japanese surrender despite the death of 100,000 of its inhabitants-far more than were killed by the alleged A bombs.

[@timmoles9259]

Yeah I do

[@TheUnshownVideos-Hoaxes-FalseF]

@@timmoles9259 you are a moronic subhuman piece of detritus and a cretin, a worthless cretin and worst of all a white American. Those traits often occur together!

[@TheUnshownVideos-Hoaxes-FalseF]

@@ct6502c I certainly think you are a moronic subhuman piece of scum who blindly believes whatever the MSM and mainstream science tells him and you are incapable of critical thinking! You have halitosis and tagnuts and are probably a gangstalker!

[@Sion_Revan]

Do you taste metal??

[@Spaceman_spliff]

This is just entirely f’d up

[@GO0dMusic]

yeah I'm pretty sure those windows were radiation proof! lmao this is the worst thing I've ever seen

[@Acer_Maximinus]

They’ve tested enough atomic weapons on our own soil, we could have been through a war.

[@Hackanhacker]

Well well Enough !

[@slowneutron6163]

This is total MST3K food.

[@arobatto]

Oppenheimer was correct; “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

[@Coinbro]

Best part is all the California people moving to St George stirring up all that radio active dust with their massive homes they build

[@Babybugex]

Mercy!!

[@tikitavi7120]

Better living through nuclear fusion!

[@TheRoland444]

fission, in this case....................

[@donnaotero1771]

Revelation 11:18 18 “But the nations became wrathful, and your own wrath came, and the appointed time came for the dead to be judged and to reward your slaves the prophets and the holy ones and those fearing your name, the small and the great, and to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.”

[@presioso45]

I m a radsafe tech.

[@Ltulrich]

Aaand now we all get cancer.

[@gettotheGate]

If you smoked anything like John Wayne, yes, you do.

[@jasonmeaty8036]

To help support peace...OMFG hahaha awesome cant wait to see the u.n involved

[@VTMCompany]

FIRE & FURY

[@Hemidakota]

And those in the downwind caught cancer. LOL

[@gettotheGate]

Going by the actually numbers, people downwind caught cancer no more than in any other place in America. The John Wayne example doesn’t work either because you can’t use as an example a guy who drank like a fish and smoked up to 6 packs of cigarettes a day. The AEC certainly didn’t have as much expertise in the early days as they claimed, but the numbers neither support or disprove the downwinder story.

[@daryllect6659]

"iT'S 3 IN THE MORNING" tHE CLOCK SAYS IT'S 5

[@scottzehrung4829]

Trust the Science! Safe and Effective!

[@scottbrady7499]

5:50 "while atomic progress, ..waits" ...the latest Twin Peaks on showtime, or the blu-ray boxed set, David Lynch has a segment in there, devoted to a nevada "test." and- an "old timey" style gas station (like the one we see HERE,) features prominently.

[@balkanarchist]

Lynch was showing the Trinity test which happened in Los Alamos. The time stamp even showed July 1945. That gas station scene was crazy trippy, though, right?

[@scottbrady7499]

@@balkanarchist thanks for the reply! i got the old school box of the mini series, after almost getting a Billie Piper season of Dr.Who. Christmas Eve. i didn't know it existed. I got Prometheus as well that night. it has its moments, but that test and stuff were the most compelling.

[@balkanarchist]

@@scottbrady7499 I just remember I couldn't find anyone to watch the third season of Twin Peaks with me. Just like the first two when they aired. I was bummed.

[@MM0IMC]

Down-winders...

[@theoleakas7794]

11:43 "to support peace!" *b o o m*

[@Acer_Maximinus]

“…to adapt nuclear energy to all the arts of peace.” But mostly we just make bombs out of it.🤦‍♂️

[@gettotheGate]

And produce truly clean energy. And produce better food. And cleaner food. And create radiography equipment for the construction industry in the area of welding qc and earthworks. And create lifesaving medical practices. and create better X-ray machines. And create power plants for American naval vessels. And indirectly create the interstate network. And create a world where world war is all but impossible, no matter who blusters and threatens. But yeah, sure, bombs, that’s the take away.

[@psycleen]

so shall distant sing

[@UlyssesM]

I've got rad x I'm good

[@Hackanhacker]

0.0 wow :P

[@apocyldoomer]

It is not 0300 hours, the clock on the tower says 0500 hours, and not everyone is asleep, I'm a night owl myself, idiots! Never mind the fallout, it's all good, hahaha liars ! Unless he said pre-morning..?? It broke up .

[@Hackanhacker]

for those pointing out parts od what he said ... Well, The WHOLE "Safety" Video(Now a docu) Is sooo well written ... they arnt relly lies(exept a few one about the most important, FalloutRad. Keep in mind they arnt really tests, but actual advance research amd weapons developement and aquiring datas, They ALREADY KNOW EVERYTHING about the bad, they have all the best mathematician and engineer and already made amd tested working and fonctional bombs) : Its all about diverting all the knowledge and say "We are here for your safety and the nation, no need to worries, this isnt dangerous" The reduce the panic and public revolte... Its All so carefully said, I actually im mind blown as it is all the way trough consistemtly LMAO, this is so evil dude. They didnt care a SHIT About ANYONE!!!

[@Hackanhacker]

The Propaganda is heavy and sickening, If you didnt Understood XD

[@sageskeleton]

Open doors & windows....really??

[@billbright1755]

Who knows what environmental damage was done in all the decades of this behavior. Basically a bunch of idiots with no clue of what they were dealing with. Calling something your job don’t make it right.

[@theshib277]

unit 731 afforded much more biological research and information and at a much lower cost and body count. simple yet horrific hypotheses were proposed and answered.

[@dmytroandruhov9119]

Белые и черные точки следы радиации

[@AnthonyJohnson-m4d]

Davis Gary Hernandez Donna Lopez Kenneth

[@jasonmeaty8036]

Eisenhower made the nation safe...lol oh boy shenanigans at its best...LMFAO

[@stephensimpson7665]

3:18 look at the poster it takes centre stage. Strange how its fitting the subject so well. One would like to think people are not so easily lead these days and then one hears that people assume trump is not in the elete but!! He's a billionaire ._ he is simply lowering the moral tone of authority so the people can adjust a little.

[@Maxwell-is-Smart]

@stephen simpson Being a billionaire does not automatically make you one of the "elite." Don't believe the bs. Donald Trump was not invited or accepted into that group. Quite the opposite is true. He's considered an "outsider," primarily because he's self-made and elites are tied to "old-money." Father Fred Trump, was successful, but the Trump Family assets that Donald earned, are NOT considered "old money." "Outsider" also applies to President Trump's political experience, of which he had none. Therein lies the primary reason for the hate he receives.

[@TheHolyMongolEmpire]

10:30 thanks Captain Obvious.

[@SP-nt4sr]

How about a nice cup of democracy!

[@TheRoland444]

Lies, lies, & more lies.

[@hotroddaddy-et4xg]

seems funny the russians were dangerous..lol.. in russia geiger counters are cheap and every where ...exclusion zones,all kinds of safety and civil plans for the victims, genetic testing for mothers and children.. in the states it was in the past don't worry...lol..in the states you'll be hard pressed to find one..period(geiger counter)..don't worry about the bomb just keep the windows closed as we all know that glass keeps you safe from radiation..lmao...the people in kazakstan are better taken care of and most of them were deported there as unwanted,criminals or banished for political reasons..

[@KDill29]

hot rod daddy yeah, about that, most of those prisoners where sent to make the uranium, taken care of, sure that's one way to look at it.. Also why do you think they have Geiger counters everywhere. They were a lot more careless with their shit. Not just the atomic testing. Probably didn't even think which way the wind was blowing. You ever hear about the anthrax that escaped from one of their test sites. Not in Kazakstan, but in Russia itself. They blamed that it was bad meat from the local butchers. Meanwhile anthrax escaped into the atmosphere. Both sides where ignorant. But don't think for a minute that they have their shit together more so than us.

[@gortbot7748]

"There's no danger".

[@antoniolucero2547]

if you guys don't believe in the Evil... .please watch this video. They talk about " peace " you cant talk about peace with a pistol in your hands... do you?

[@MrJohnisthename]

In 1873 Colt Mfg produced a .45 cal revolver for the US Army, aptly given the nickname "Peacemaker"

[@gettotheGate]

Peace, you pathetic hippy, is not pacifism, it’s not an absence of war, it’s having the means and the ability to stop anyone from even THINKING about invading your property, taking it and whatever they want from it. Having peace requires the ability to create and enforce it.