Operation Storax was a series of 47 nuclear tests conducted by the United States in 1962-1963 at the Nevada Test Site. Sedan was one of the most spectacular nuclear test ever fired in the continental U.S. fired July 6, 1962. It was an LRL test conducted under the auspices of the Plowshare program, which was an attempt to develop non-military uses for nuclear explosives. The purpose of Sedan was to investigate the potential of "clean" thermonuclear devices for producing large craters cheaply. Up to a point, the more deeply buried an explosive charge is, the larger the crater it will make. Beyond this point much of the material is thrown with insufficient force to clear the crater and falls back in, reducing the final size. At the optimal crater depth though quite a lot of material actually ends up back in the crater bottom. This is an advantage for a Plowshare-type crater experiment since much of the radioactivity gets returned to the crater and buried. Sedan was detonated at what was estimated to be the optimal crater depth in alluvial soil. 12 million tons of soil and rock were lifted into the air, 8 million tons of it falling outside the crater. The final crater was 1280 feet wide and 320 feet deep. The force of the detonation released seismic energy equivalent to an earthquake magnitude of 4.75 on the Richter Scale. This series was concluded before the signing of the Atmospheric Test Ban Treaty on August 5, 1963.