On-Site Inspection for Underground Nuclear Tests

The paper provides a brief review of the status in late 1962 of the VELA UNIFORM effort for developing and testing on-site inspection techniques. Of the techniques tested to date, it is tentatively concluded that ten had utility under the conditions existing at the GNOME event in southeastern New Mexico and at the Nevada Test Site locale of the NOUGAT-STORAX underground nuclear explosion series. Promising techniques include visual and photographic reconnaissance, changes in solid-state characteristics of certain minerals, gamma ray surveys, and after-shock monitoring. Problems still exist with respect to deeply buried explosions, polar areas, and regions of shallow water cover.