Amchitka is an island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. It is about 64 km (40 miles) long.

Amchitka was selected in 1967 by the United States Atomic Energy Commission to be the site for underground tests of nuclear weapons. The commission financed the transplanting of much of the island's animal life to other sites. The test caused much controversy.

Test Film

Nuclear Weapons Test Film: The Milrow Test (0800040 - 1969 - 27:30 - Color)

This video discusses the MILROW detonation, as presented by the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. The narrator sums up the reason for the test when he states, "The purpose of the MILROW test was to test an island, not a weapon." The device, detonated on October 2, 1969, on Amchitka Island, Alaska, was buried 1,200m underground and had a yield of 1.2 megatons. MILROW demonstrated that a larger nuclear test could be safely conducted on the island.

As seen in video number 0800038, scenic views of the island and additional World War II activities on Amchitka Island are shown. Additional footage shows environmental and safety activities before and after the test. The nuclear explosive package is shown being lowered into the shaft. An extensive overview of the unique shaft stemming and backfill operations is also shown along with a summary of diagnostic tests and their equipment. Surface effects during and after the detonation are shown, including subsidence crater results that differed from standard subsidences after nuclear explosions at the Nevada Test Site.

Sources

Office of Scientific and Technical Information (http://www.osti.gov/historicalfilms/opentext/data/0800040.html)