One-sentence brief
A seismic, hydroacoustic, infrasound, optical, or radionuclide signal can support different propositions. Detection is not automatically nuclear confirmation, state attribution, device characterization, or legal judgment.
NUCLEAR TESTING HISTORY AND EVIDENCE
How to distinguish detected signals, official assessments, disputed incidents, state attribution, design claims, and adjudicated findings.
ORIENTATION
A seismic, hydroacoustic, infrasound, optical, or radionuclide signal can support different propositions. Detection is not automatically nuclear confirmation, state attribution, device characterization, or legal judgment.
WORKING BRIEF
Separate observed signal, event classification, nuclear interpretation, actor identity, state responsibility, design characterization, intent, and legal consequence.
A network can detect and locate signals with uncertainty. Public reproducibility, classified data, sensor coverage, and alternative natural or conventional explanations constrain stronger claims.
The companion report says the 1979 Vela incident was included, but the exact CSV has no row dated 1979-09-22. A different test name contains the string “VELARDE” and must not be mistaken for Vela.
Use detected, recorded, claimed, assessed, attributed, alleged, disputed, corroborated, or adjudicated according to the strongest established rung.
COMPLETE DOSSIER
Terms are defined for this site’s evidence method, not as universal legal or clinical definitions.
| Record state | Acceptable treatment | Prohibited implication |
|---|---|---|
| Source observation | Describe the dated record and source scope. | Treat preservation or repetition as independent authentication. |
| Analytical interpretation | Label assumptions, uncertainty, and alternative explanations. | Present interpretation as settled causal fact. |
| Review output | Produce a stable local-only finding and next action. | Grant legal, specialist, publication, operational, production, or tuning authority. |
| Correction and reopening | Map dependent routes, expiration, correction, and retest triggers. | Silently revise a source state or imply that review is closed. |
Is the historical, model, projection, or proposal state visible?
Pass condition: The exact boundary label appears before the relevant material.
Are duplicate files and shared source chains counted correctly?
Pass condition: Evidence origins are distinct from article or file count.
Are affected people, rights, access, and remedy represented?
Pass condition: Technical records do not erase communities or shift blame onto them.
Does the result avoid implied operational or approval authority?
Pass condition: No source or tool grants specialist, publication, operational, production, activation, or tuning authority.
RESEARCH EDITION
This page follows the public method for provenance, confidence, source independence, alternative accounts, limitations, review state, and visible correction.
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