1985 Soviet nuclear tests

1985
1985
Information
Country	Soviet Union
Test site	Arkhangelsk, Russia; Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan; Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan; Khanty-Mansi, Russia
Period	1985
Number of tests	10
Test type	underground shaft, tunnel
Max. yield	114 kilotonnes of TNT (480 TJ)
Test series chronology
	← 1984 Soviet nuclear tests 1987 Soviet nuclear tests →

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The Soviet Union's 1985 nuclear test series was a group of 10 nuclear tests conducted in 1985. These tests followed the 1984 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1987 Soviet nuclear tests series.

Soviet Union's 1985 series tests and detonations
Name	Date time (UT)	Local time zone	Location	Elevation + height	Delivery, Purpose	Yield	Notes
659 - 1	10 February 1985 03:27:10.07	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1340 49°53′57″N 78°46′46″E / 49.89917°N 78.77939°E / 49.89917; 78.77939 (659 - 1)	330 m (1,080 ft) +	underground shaft, weapons development	62 kt
659 - 2	10 February 1985 03:27:10.1	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1340 49°53′57″N 78°46′46″E / 49.89917°N 78.77939°E / 49.89917; 78.77939 (659 - 2)	330 m (1,080 ft) +	underground shaft, weapons development	unknown yield
659 - 3	10 February 1985 03:27:10.1	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1340 49°53′57″N 78°46′46″E / 49.89917°N 78.77939°E / 49.89917; 78.77939 (659 - 3)	330 m (1,080 ft) +	underground shaft, weapons development	unknown yield
660 - 1	25 April 1985 00:57:09.1	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1319 49°55′36″N 78°52′51″E / 49.92667°N 78.88083°E / 49.92667; 78.88083 (660 - 1)	330 m (1,080 ft) +	underground shaft, weapons development	74 kt
660 - 2	25 April 1985 00:57:09.1	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1319 49°55′36″N 78°52′51″E / 49.92667°N 78.88083°E / 49.92667; 78.88083 (660 - 2)	330 m (1,080 ft) +	underground shaft, weapons development	unknown yield
661 - 1	15 June 1985 00:57:03.21	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1341 49°54′30″N 78°50′19″E / 49.90829°N 78.83869°E / 49.90829; 78.83869 (661 - 1)	330 m (1,080 ft) +	underground shaft, weapons development	114 kt
661 - 2	15 June 1985 00:57:03.2	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1341 49°54′30″N 78°50′19″E / 49.90829°N 78.83869°E / 49.90829; 78.83869 (661 - 2)	330 m (1,080 ft) +	underground shaft, weapons development	unknown yield
661 - 3	15 June 1985 00:57:03	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1061bis 49°55′15″N 78°49′11″E / 49.92084°N 78.8196°E / 49.92084; 78.8196 (661 - 3)	330 m (1,080 ft) +	underground shaft, weapons development	unknown yield
662 Benzol (Benzine)	18 June 1985 04:00:00.1	SVET (5 hrs)	Khanty-Mansi, Russia 60°36′N 72°42′E / 60.6°N 72.7°E / 60.6; 72.7 (662 Benzol (Benzine))	– 2,860 m (9,380 ft)	underground shaft, oil stimulation	2.5 kt	Oil recovery intensification. 110 km SW Surgur.
663 - 1	30 June 1985 02:39:05.13	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1354 49°51′52″N 78°40′03″E / 49.86438°N 78.66744°E / 49.86438; 78.66744 (663 - 1)	330 m (1,080 ft) +	underground shaft, weapons development	86 kt
663 - 2	30 June 1985 02:39:05.1	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1354 49°51′52″N 78°40′03″E / 49.86438°N 78.66744°E / 49.86438; 78.66744 (663 - 2)	330 m (1,080 ft) +	underground shaft, weapons development	unknown yield
664	11 July 1985 02:57:02.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 175-pp 49°45′01″N 78°02′36″E / 49.75024°N 78.04326°E / 49.75024; 78.04326 (664)	682 m (2,238 ft) +	tunnel, weapons development	500 t
666 Agat (Kvartz 1)	18 July 1985 21:15:00.3	MSK (3 hrs)	Arkhangelsk, Russia 65°59′38″N 41°02′17″E / 65.994°N 41.038°E / 65.994; 41.038 (666 Agat (Kvartz 1))	– 770 m (2,530 ft)	underground shaft, seismic sounding	8.5 kt	Seismic probing program. 150 km W Mizen.
665	19 July 1985 04:00:08.0	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 901 49°48′12″N 78°03′46″E / 49.80325°N 78.06276°E / 49.80325; 78.06276 (665)	710 m (2,330 ft) +	tunnel, weapons development	unknown yield
667	20 July 1985 00:53:16.98	ALMT (6 hrs)	Balapan, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 1322 49°56′59″N 78°47′02″E / 49.94972°N 78.78389°E / 49.94972; 78.78389 (667)	330 m (1,080 ft) +	underground shaft, weapons development	74 kt
668 - 1	25 July 1985 03:11:09.23	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 152 49°48′57″N 78°00′35″E / 49.8157°N 78.0096°E / 49.8157; 78.0096 (668 - 1)	654 m (2,146 ft) +	tunnel, weapons development	5 kt
668 - 2	25 July 1985 03:11:09.1	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 152 49°48′57″N 78°00′35″E / 49.8157°N 78.0096°E / 49.8157; 78.0096 (668 - 2)	654 m (2,146 ft) +	tunnel, weapons development	unknown yield
668 - 3	25 July 1985 03:11:09.1	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 152 49°48′57″N 78°00′35″E / 49.8157°N 78.0096°E / 49.8157; 78.0096 (668 - 3)	654 m (2,146 ft) +	tunnel, safety experiment	unknown yield
668 - 4	25 July 1985 03:11:09.1	ALMT (6 hrs)	Degelen, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: 152 49°48′57″N 78°00′35″E / 49.8157°N 78.0096°E / 49.8157; 78.0096 (668 - 4)	654 m (2,146 ft) +	tunnel, safety experiment	unknown yield

↑ A bomb test may be a salvo test, defined as two or more explosions "where a period of time between successive individual explosions does not exceed 5 seconds and where the burial points of all explosive devices can be connected by segments of straight lines, each of them connecting two burial points and does not exceed 40 kilometers in length". Mikhailov, V. N. "Catalog of World Wide Nuclear Testing". Begell-Atom, LLC. Archived from the original on 2014-04-26. Retrieved 2013-12-18.
↑ The US, France and Great Britain have code-named their test events, while the USSR and China did not, and therefore have only test numbers (with some exceptions – Soviet peaceful explosions were named). Word translations into English in parentheses unless the name is a proper noun. A dash followed by a number indicates a member of a salvo event. The US also sometimes named the individual explosions in such a salvo test, which results in "name1 – 1(with name2)". If test is canceled or aborted, then the row data like date and location discloses the intended plans, where known.
↑ To convert the UT time into standard local, add the number of hours in parentheses to the UT time; for local daylight saving time, add one additional hour. If the result is earlier than 00:00, add 24 hours and subtract 1 from the day; if it is 24:00 or later, subtract 24 hours and add 1 to the day. Historical time zone data obtained from the IANA time zone database.
↑ Rough place name and a latitude/longitude reference; for rocket-carried tests, the launch location is specified before the detonation location, if known. Some locations are extremely accurate; others (like airdrops and space blasts) may be quite inaccurate. "~" indicates a likely pro-forma rough location, shared with other tests in that same area.
↑ Elevation is the ground level at the point directly below the explosion relative to sea level; height is the additional distance added or subtracted by tower, balloon, shaft, tunnel, air drop or other contrivance. For rocket bursts the ground level is "N/A". In some cases it is not clear if the height is absolute or relative to ground, for example, Plumbbob/John. No number or units indicates the value is unknown, while "0" means zero. Sorting on this column is by elevation and height added together.
↑ Atmospheric, airdrop, balloon, gun, cruise missile, rocket, surface, tower, and barge are all disallowed by the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Sealed shaft and tunnel are underground, and remained useful under the PTBT. Intentional cratering tests are borderline; they occurred under the treaty, were sometimes protested, and generally overlooked if the test was declared to be a peaceful use.
↑ Include weapons development, weapon effects, safety test, transport safety test, war, science, joint verification and industrial/peaceful, which may be further broken down.
↑ Designations for test items where known, "?" indicates some uncertainty about the preceding value, nicknames for particular devices in quotes. This category of information is often not officially disclosed.
↑ Estimated energy yield in tons, kilotons, and megatons. A ton of TNT equivalent is defined as 4.184 gigajoules (1 gigacalorie).
↑ Radioactive emission to the atmosphere aside from prompt neutrons, where known. The measured species is only iodine-131 if mentioned, otherwise it is all species. No entry means unknown, probably none if underground and "all" if not; otherwise notation for whether measured on the site only or off the site, where known, and the measured amount of radioactivity released.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Yang, Xiaoping; North, Robert; Romney, Carl (August 2000). CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3) (Technical report). SMDC Monitoring Research.
↑ "Time Zone Historical Database". iana.com. Archived from the original on 2014-03-11. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Khalturin, Vitaly I.; Rautian, Tatyana G.; Richards, Paul G. (2000). "Chemical explosions during 1961-1989 on the Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakhstan" (PDF). Pure and Applied Geophysics. 158: 143–171. doi:10.1007/pl00001153. S2CID 128953780. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cochran, Thomas B.; Arkin, William M.; Norris, Robert S.; Sands, Jeffrey I. Nuclear Weapons Databook Vol. IV: Soviet Nuclear Weapons. New York, NY: Harper and Row.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Podvig, Pavel, ed. (2001). Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262661812. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 USSR Nuclear Weapons Tests and Peaceful Nuclear Explosions 1949 through 1990. Sarov, Russia: RFNC-VNIIEF. 1996. The official Russian list of Soviet tests.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Thurber, Clifford; Trabant, Chad; Haslinger, Florian; Hartog, Renate (2001). Nuclear explosion locations at the Balapan, Kazakhstan, nuclear test site: the effects of high-precision arrival times and three-dimensional structure. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors (Technical report). Vol. 123. pp. 283–301. doi:10.1016/s0031-9201(00)00215-6. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
↑ Andrushkin, Vitaly V.; Leith, William (September 1, 2001). The containment of Soviet underground nuclear explosions (PDF) (Open File Report 01-312). USGS. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 9, 2013. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Nuclear explosions in the USSR: The North Test Site reference material, version 4 (PDF) (Technical report). IAEA Dept. of Nuclear Safety and Security. December 1, 2004. Retrieved December 13, 2013.

[2] A bomb test may be a salvo test, defined as two or more explosions "where a period of time between successive individual explosions does not exceed 5 seconds and where the burial points of all explosive devices can be connected by segments of straight lines, each of them connecting two burial points and does not exceed 40 kilometers in length". Mikhailov, V. N. "Catalog of World Wide Nuclear Testing". Begell-Atom, LLC. Archived from the original on 2014-04-26. Retrieved 2013-12-18.

[3] The US, France and Great Britain have code-named their test events, while the USSR and China did not, and therefore have only test numbers (with some exceptions – Soviet peaceful explosions were named). Word translations into English in parentheses unless the name is a proper noun. A dash followed by a number indicates a member of a salvo event. The US also sometimes named the individual explosions in such a salvo test, which results in "name1 – 1(with name2)". If test is canceled or aborted, then the row data like date and location discloses the intended plans, where known.

[4] To convert the UT time into standard local, add the number of hours in parentheses to the UT time; for local daylight saving time, add one additional hour. If the result is earlier than 00:00, add 24 hours and subtract 1 from the day; if it is 24:00 or later, subtract 24 hours and add 1 to the day. Historical time zone data obtained from the IANA time zone database.

[6] Rough place name and a latitude/longitude reference; for rocket-carried tests, the launch location is specified before the detonation location, if known. Some locations are extremely accurate; others (like airdrops and space blasts) may be quite inaccurate. "~" indicates a likely pro-forma rough location, shared with other tests in that same area.

[7] Elevation is the ground level at the point directly below the explosion relative to sea level; height is the additional distance added or subtracted by tower, balloon, shaft, tunnel, air drop or other contrivance. For rocket bursts the ground level is "N/A". In some cases it is not clear if the height is absolute or relative to ground, for example, Plumbbob/John. No number or units indicates the value is unknown, while "0" means zero. Sorting on this column is by elevation and height added together.

[8] Atmospheric, airdrop, balloon, gun, cruise missile, rocket, surface, tower, and barge are all disallowed by the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Sealed shaft and tunnel are underground, and remained useful under the PTBT. Intentional cratering tests are borderline; they occurred under the treaty, were sometimes protested, and generally overlooked if the test was declared to be a peaceful use.

[9] Include weapons development, weapon effects, safety test, transport safety test, war, science, joint verification and industrial/peaceful, which may be further broken down.

[10] Designations for test items where known, "?" indicates some uncertainty about the preceding value, nicknames for particular devices in quotes. This category of information is often not officially disclosed.

[11] Estimated energy yield in tons, kilotons, and megatons. A ton of TNT equivalent is defined as 4.184 gigajoules (1 gigacalorie).

[12] Radioactive emission to the atmosphere aside from prompt neutrons, where known. The measured species is only iodine-131 if mentioned, otherwise it is all species. No entry means unknown, probably none if underground and "all" if not; otherwise notation for whether measured on the site only or off the site, where known, and the measured amount of radioactivity released.

[LT_1-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Yang, Xiaoping; North, Robert; Romney, Carl (August 2000). CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3) (Technical report). SMDC Monitoring Research.

[5] "Time Zone Historical Database". iana.com. Archived from the original on 2014-03-11. Retrieved March 8, 2014.

[LT_41-13] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Khalturin, Vitaly I.; Rautian, Tatyana G.; Richards, Paul G. (2000). "Chemical explosions during 1961-1989 on the Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakhstan" (PDF). Pure and Applied Geophysics. 158: 143–171. doi:10.1007/pl00001153. S2CID 128953780. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2013.

[LT_36-14] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cochran, Thomas B.; Arkin, William M.; Norris, Robert S.; Sands, Jeffrey I. Nuclear Weapons Databook Vol. IV: Soviet Nuclear Weapons. New York, NY: Harper and Row.

[LT_31-15] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Podvig, Pavel, ed. (2001). Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262661812. Retrieved January 9, 2014.

[LT_7-16] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 USSR Nuclear Weapons Tests and Peaceful Nuclear Explosions 1949 through 1990. Sarov, Russia: RFNC-VNIIEF. 1996. The official Russian list of Soviet tests.

[LT_45-17] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Thurber, Clifford; Trabant, Chad; Haslinger, Florian; Hartog, Renate (2001). Nuclear explosion locations at the Balapan, Kazakhstan, nuclear test site: the effects of high-precision arrival times and three-dimensional structure. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors (Technical report). Vol. 123. pp. 283–301. doi:10.1016/s0031-9201(00)00215-6. Retrieved December 13, 2013.

[LT_201-18] Andrushkin, Vitaly V.; Leith, William (September 1, 2001). The containment of Soviet underground nuclear explosions (PDF) (Open File Report 01-312). USGS. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 9, 2013. Retrieved December 13, 2013.

[LT_52-19] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nuclear explosions in the USSR: The North Test Site reference material, version 4 (PDF) (Technical report). IAEA Dept. of Nuclear Safety and Security. December 1, 2004. Retrieved December 13, 2013.