A map of the Novaya Zemlya testing sites, with Matochkin Shar in blue.

Matochkin Shar, or Matochkin Strait (Russian: Ма́точкин Шар) is a strait between Severny and Yuzhny Islands of Novaya Zemlya. It connects the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea. The banks along the strait are high and steep. Its length is approximately 100 km, its width (in its narrowest part)—approximately 0.6 km. The strait is covered with ice for the most part of the year. There are fishing settlements along the strait (Matochkin Shar, Stolbovoy). Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1152x1692, 2326 KB) Summary A map of Novaya Zemlya with chief zones of nuclear testing activity indicated (A, B, C, with their respective geographical names), as well as the general boundaries of the testing subareas on the islands. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1152x1692, 2326 KB) Summary A map of Novaya Zemlya with chief zones of nuclear testing activity indicated (A, B, C, with their respective geographical names), as well as the general boundaries of the testing subareas on the islands. ... Simplified diagram A strait is a narrow channel of water that connects two larger bodies of water, and thus lies between two land masses. ... Severny Island (Russian: ) is the northern island of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, lying north of Russia. ... Yuzhny is the southern island of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, lying north of Russia. ... Novaya Zemlyas position on the map. ... Location of the Barents Sea. ... The Kara Sea (Russian: Ка́рское мо́ре) is part of the Arctic Ocean (in the area sometimes called the Arctic Mediterranean Sea) off northern Siberia, bound by the Kara Strait (West, connecting to the Barents Sea) and the Severnaya Zemlya Islands and the Northern Land Archipelago (East, and the Laptev Sea). ... A map of the Novaya Zemlya testing sites, with Matochkin Shar in blue. ...

It is also the site where from 1963 to 1990 about 39 underground nuclear tests took place in a vast array of tunnels and shafts. After 2000, the Russians started to reactivate the test site by enlarging old tunnels and starting construction work. Each summer since then various subcritical hydronuclear experiments took place. In 2004, Rosatom reportedly performed a series of subcritical hydronuclear experiments with up to 100 g of weapon-grade plutonium each. 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... This article is about the year. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Federal Atomic Energy Agency (FAEA) (Russian: ), often abbreviated as RosAtom () or MinAtom (), is the federal agency of Russia, the regulatory body of the Russian nuclear complex. ...

Coordinates: 73°15′N 55°00′E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...