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The Tests
| Code Name: | Round 1 |
| Time and Date: | 07:30 September 27, 1956 (GMT) |
| Location: | One Tree, Maralinga Test Range,
Australia |
| Height: | 100 feet |
| Type: | Tower Burst |
| Predicted Yield: | 16 kilotons |
| Actual Yield: | 15 kilotons |
The first test of Operation Buffalo was conducted at the One Tree site at the test range. It was a test of the Red Beard tactical bomb and yielded 15 kilotons, the largest nuclear test fired during Buffalo. While the AWRE had predicted the cloud to reach a height of 27,900 feet, it reached an altitude of 37,500 feet.
Observers turn their backs to the intense light of the explosion |
The shot was fired at a time when fallout was predicted to violate the safe firing criteria proposed by the safety committee. Failure to postpone the test due to unfavorable meteorological conditions resulted in higher then predicted fallout to be measured off site, at distances up to 180 miles.
An AWRE report defined two levels of radiation exposure for the Buffalo trials,Level A; level which will not give rise to any observable effects on the body, and Level B; level which could cause a small observable effect such as slight temporary sickness in a few people who had a low threshold to radiation exposure. The Safety Committee stated that aborigines were to be protected to Level A standards. Rain criteria were also established to prevent rain or mist contamination. These safe firing conditions were established to ensure the protection of the environment and people.
Following the Round 1 explosion, measurements confirmed that fallout levels exceeded Level A at locations beyond Coober Pedy, and exceeded Level B for nomadic people where aborigines could be expected to be living.
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| Code Name: | Round 2 |
| Time and Date: | 07:00 October 4, 1956 (GMT) |
| Location: | Marcoo Site, Maralinga Test Range,
Australia |
| Height: | 6.4 feet |
| Type: | Surface Burst |
| Predicted Yield: | <2 kilotons |
| Actual Yield: | 1.5 kilotons |
The second Buffalo shot was fired at the Marcoo site. It was a test of a low-yield Mark I enriched uranium device for the Blue Danube bomb. The device was detonated on the surface to collect ground shock and cratering data. The explosion produced a crater 160 feet wide, 40 feet deep and a 58 inch lip. Unexpected rain showers occurred after the explosion and as a result accurate fallout data could not be obtained.
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| Code Name: | Round 3 |
| Time and Date: | 05:57 October 11, 1956 (GMT) |
| Location: | Kite Site, Maralinga Test Range,
Australia |
| Height: | 480 feet |
| Type: | Air Burst - Air Drop |
| Predicted Yield: | ??? |
| Actual Yield: | 3 kilotons |
This was Britain’s first air dropped detonation of a nuclear device. The Blue Danube bomb was dropped from a Valiant bomber and detonated at an altitude of 480 feet. Plans of using a 40 kiloton version of the bomb was scrapped due to concerns of the air burst fuze failing, resulting in a surface explosion. The cloud reached an altitude of 15,000 feet. Only small amounts of radiation was measured after the shot, mostly at Maralinga Village.
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| Code Name: | Round 4 |
| Time and Date: | 14:35 October 22, 1956 (GMT) |
| Location: | Breakaway Site, Maralinga Test Range,
Australia |
| Height: | 109 feet |
| Type: | Tower Burst |
| Predicted Yield: | ??? |
| Actual Yield: | 10 kilotons |
This was the last test of Operation Buffalo, detonated at the Breakaway site. It was a test of the Red Beard tactical bomb. Some fusion fuel was included in the device as a physics experiment to supplement data collected during Operation Mosaic.
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