Nuclear test causes most significant accidental radiological contamination ever by U.S. 60 years ago this hour (Mar 1 1954)

1950s, Cold War


Video: 'Castle Bravo Nuclear Test'

(Monday, March 1, 1954, 6:45 a.m. local time; Sunday, February 28, 1954, 1:45 p.m. EST) — The United States detonated a dry-fuel hydrogen bomb, codenamed Castle Bravo, at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands today. The explosive yield of 15 megatons, much greater than expected, dropped radioactive fallout on occupied islands hundreds of miles away.