Operation Sandstone

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Operation Sandstone was the third American series of nuclear weapon tests. It was conducted in 1948 at Enewetak Atoll. These tests followed Crossroads and preceded Ranger. As was the custom, each explosion was given a nickname.

Sandstone Test Blasts

Test Name	Date	Location	Yield	Note
X-Ray	14 April 1948	Enewetak Atoll	37 kilotons
Yoke	30 April 1948	Enewetak Atoll	49 kilotons
Zebra	14 May 1948	Enewetak Atoll	18 kilotons

The tests were authorized on June 27, 1947 and Enewetak Atoll was chosen as the test site on October 11. The 140 inhabitants of the atoll were relocated to Ujelang Atoll in December.

The tests were used to evaluate new atomic weapon designs that had been developed at Los Alamos as part of the Manhattan Project but had not previously been used. The bombs used oralloy, a form of enriched uranium, as a replacement for plutonium, which had been used in all atomic weapons prior to this with the exception of the "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima, which utilized uranium-235. The X-Ray test used a 2:1 mix of oralloy and plutonium. The Yoke and Zebra tests used all oralloy.