# ATOMIC BOMB TESTS IN MERCURY, NEVADA HISTORIC FILM 40982

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…

- Kind: Film
- Genres: War, Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/40982AtomicTestInNevada)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/40982AtomicTestInNevada?play=1)