Soviet Project K nuclear tests

The Soviet scientists instrumented a 570-kilometer (350 mi) section of telephone line in the area that they expected to be affected by the nuclear detonation in order to measure the electromagnetic pulse effects.

The EMP from the 22 October (K-3) nuclear test caused all of the fuses to blow and all of the overvoltage protectors to fire in all of the sub-lines of the 570 km (350 mi) telephone line.

[3] After the 1991 Soviet Union collapse, there was a period of a few years of cooperation between United States and Russian scientists on the high-altitude nuclear EMP phenomenon.

In addition, funding was secured to enable Russian scientists to formally report on some of the Soviet EMP results in international scientific journals.

[3] Published reports, including the 1998 IEEE article,[2] have stated that there were significant problems with ceramic insulators on overhead electrical power lines during the tests of the K Project.

This map of Kazakhstan shows the missile flight path (in blue) for the K Project warhead-carrying missiles. [ 4 ] The nuclear missiles were launched from the Kapustin Yar site east of Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) in the upper left part of the map. The red burst in the flight path west of Zhezqazghan is the detonation location of the K-3 nuclear test (Test 184). The detonation locations for the other tests have not been publicized, but from the published detonation altitudes and basic physics, it is known that the other K Project nuclear detonation locations were along the designated flight path between the K-3 detonation site and Saryshagan (at the eastern end of the designated flight path). The instrumented telephone line damaged in the K-3 test went from Zhezqazghan through Qaraghandy (Karaganda), northward to Aqmola (now called Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan) and ended at an unknown location just north of Aqmola. [ 2 ]