''Canopus'' (or ''Opération Canopus'') was the codename of the first

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

two-stage thermonuclear test. It was conducted by the Pacific Carrier Battle Group (nicknamed ''Alfa Force'') on 24 August 1968, at the Pacific Experiments Centre near Fangataufa atoll,

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = " Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of Frenc ...

. The test made France the fifth country to test a thermonuclear device after the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

History

In 1966, France was able to use fusion fuel to

boost Boost, boosted or boosting may refer to: Science, technology and mathematics * Boost, positive manifold pressure in turbocharged engines * Boost (C++ libraries), a set of free peer-reviewed portable C++ libraries * Boost (material), a material b ...

plutonium implosion devices with the Rigel shot.

Robert Dautray Ignace Robert Dautray, born Kouchelevitz on 1 February 1928 in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, is a French engineer, former scientific director of the French Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA) and former High Commissioner for Atomic Energy. ...

, (real name : Ignatz Koushelewitz) a nuclear physicist, was selected by the CEA to lead the development effort to construct a two-stage weapon. France did not have the ability to produce the materials needed for a two-stage thermonuclear device at the time, so 151 tons of heavy water was purchased from Norway and an additional 168 tons from the United States. This heavy water went into

nuclear reactors A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...

in 1967 to produce tritium needed for the device. France was to test the new device as part of a 5-shot series conducted at the

nuclear testing Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected by ...

grounds in

. The device weighed three tons and used a

lithium deuteride Lithium hydride is an inorganic compound with the formula Li H. This alkali metal hydride is a colorless solid, although commercial samples are grey. Characteristic of a salt-like (ionic) hydride, it has a high melting point, and it is not solub ...

secondary stage with a highly enriched uranium jacket primary. Fangataufa was selected as the location of the shot due to its isolation in respect to the main base on

Mururoa Moruroa (Mururoa, Mururura), also historically known as Aopuni, is an atoll which forms part of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is located about southeast of Tahiti. Administratively Moruroa Atoll i ...

. The device was suspended from a large hydrogen filled balloon. It was detonated at 18:30:00.5 GMT with a 2.6

megaton Megaton may refer to: * A million tons * Megaton TNT equivalent, explosive energy equal to 4.184 petajoules * megatonne, a million tonnes, SI unit of mass Other uses * Olivier Megaton (born 1965), French film director, writer and editor * ''Me ...

yield at an altitude of . Nominal yield was
ctbto
As a result of the successful detonation, France became the 5th thermonuclear nation. A flotilla codenamed Alfa Force led by French aircraft carrier '' Clemenceau'' deployed to the south Pacific during the time of the test. The naval force present around the two atolls massed more than 120,000 tons displacement and represented more than 40% of the tonnage of the entire French navy.

International reactions

The announcement by France in the late 1960s to test a hydrogen bomb provoked the People's Republic of China to conduct a full scale hydrogen bomb test of its own on 17 June 1967.

In popular culture

The 1998 film '' Godzilla'' uses this particular test as the basis for the origin of the titular monster, a marine iguana mutated by the fallout from the blast while still in its egg (however, the footage in the movie is actually of the United States' Baker Test in 1946.)

External links

France's Nuclear Weapons Program
at th
Atomic Forum
*
Archives sur le Centre d'Expérimentations Nucléaires du Pacifique (C.E.P.) à Moruroa, Hao et Fangataufa

Notes

References