Nuclear Testing                    

Between 1945 and 2017, at over 60 locations throughout the world, at least eight nations have detonated 2,056 nuclear test explosions from Lop Nor in China, to the atolls of the Pacific, to Nevada, to Algeria to western Australia, the South Atlantic, Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, across Russia, and a number of other remote locations.

Most of the test sites are in the lands of indigenous peoples and far away from the testing governments. About a quarter of the tests were in the atmosphere, spreading radioactive materials over the entire globe. Many of the underground tests have vented fallout into the atmosphere and contaminated large areas of land. The purpose of tests was to make more and more efficient means of destruction. Eight nations have definitely tested weapons and possibly a ninth.

Test bans

On August 5, 1963, after more than eight years of difficult negotiations, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the USSR signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The treaty:

1. prohibited nuclear weapons tests or other nuclear explosions under water, in the atmosphere, or in outer space
2. allowed underground nuclear tests as long as no radioactive debris falls outside the boundaries of the nation conducting the test
3. pledged signatories to work towards complete disarmament, an end to the armaments race, and an end to the contamination of the environment by radioactive substances.

In 1996 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Signed by 71 nations, including those possessing nuclear weapons, the treaty prohibited all nuclear test explosions including those conducted underground. Though it was signed by President Bill Clinton, the Senate rejected the treaty by a vote of 51 to 48. The CTBT, which prohibits "any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion" and established a international test monitoring and verification system, has not yet entered into force. Sadly not all nuclear capable nations have signed and ratified the Treaty: China, Israel and the USA have signed but not ratified; India, North Korea and Pakistan have not signed. President Trump has suggested at various times that he wished to re-initiate nuclear testing.

Nuclear Tests

N.B.

In accordance with the definition of a nuclear test to be found in the Threshold Test Ban Treaty (1974) and to allow direct comparison with other countries' data, India's tests in 1998 actually consisted of a total of five weapons over two days and are therefore counted as two tests. In similar fashion Pakistan's five simultaneous detonations on 28th May of the same year also count as a single test. In addition to the above it is believed, by some, that Israel also conducted a single test in collaboration with South Africa in 1979, this is referred to as the Vela Incident.

"Nuclear Test Film - Trinity Shot - 5:29 a.m. on July 16, 1945"

"Project Tower 1945"

Short US Air Force film about the technical problems in capturing film of the first atomic bomb blasts.

"Operation Hurricane"

Operation Hurricane was the test of the first UK atomic device on 3 October 1952. The bomb was of the plutonium implosion type, and had a yield of approximately 25kt. At the end of WWII, the US McMahon Act forbade sharing of nuclear weapons information, even with those countries that had been a key part of the Manhattan Project. The UK decided to go their own way in developing nuclear weapons, the result of this was the Operation Hurricane bomb developed under the guidance of Sir William Penney. The test took place in the Montebello Islands, Western Australia.

"Operation IVY  (1952)"

"The island of Elugelab is missing!" President Eisenhower heard this short report on the Mike shot in Operation IVY from Gordon Dean, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.

Mike was the first full-scale hydrogen explosive device to be tested, yet was only a scientific test of a thermofusion implosion device concept it was not a deliverable weapon.

The island where the device was detonated was vapourized. The hole Mike left was big enough to accommodate 14 Pentagon-size buildings and deep enough to hold a 17 story building under water, in a crater one mile in diameter and approximately 175 feet deep. Mike's yield was an incredible 10.4 megatons, signalling the proof-tested expansion of the nuclear explosive technology concepts from nuclear fission to thermofusion.

"Tsar Bomba (Царь-бомба)"

Tsar Bomba (Царь-бомба), RDS-220 (РДС-220) thermonuclear bomb (code name Vanya). Official USSR footage.  Detonated by the Soviet Union on October 30, 1961,  the largest nuclear device ever detonated and the most powerful man-made explosion in history. With a yield of 50+ megatons.