A number of proof-of-concept cratering blasts were conducted ; including the Buggy shot of 5 1 kt devices for a channel/trench in Area 30 and the largest being 104 kiloton ( 435 terajoule ) on July 6 , 1962 at the north end of Yucca Flats , within the Atomic Energy Commission 's Nevada Test Site ( NTS ) in southern Nevada . The shot , " Sedan " , displaced more than 12 million short tons ( 11 teragrams ) of soil and resulted in a radioactive cloud that rose to an altitude of 12,000 ft ( 3.7 km ) . The radioactive dust plume headed northeast and then east towards the Mississippi River
Sedan
Sedan (nuclear test)
Project Plowshare