List of nuclear weapons tests

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The following is a list of nuclear test series designations, organized first by country and then by date. For more information on countries with nuclear weapons, see List of countries with nuclear weapons. For more information on nuclear weapon arsenals, see List of nuclear weapons.

Nuclear tests by known nuclear countries

United States of America

The United States conducted around 1,054 nuclear tests (by official count) between 1945 and 1992. Some significant tests conducted by the United States include:^[1]

Shot "Baker" of Operation Crossroads (1946) was the first underwater nuclear explosion.

• The "Trinity" test on 16 July 1945, was the first-ever test of a nuclear weapon (yield of around 20 kt).
• The Operation Crossroads series in July 1946, was the first postwar test series and one of the largest military operations in U.S. history.
• The Operation Greenhouse shots of May 1951 included the first boosted fission weapon test ("Item") and a scientific test which proved the feasibility of thermonuclear weapons ("George").
• The "Ivy Mike" shot of 1 November 1952, was the first full test of a Teller-Ulam design "staged" hydrogen bomb, with a yield of 10 megatons. It was not a deployable weapon, however — with its full cryogenic equipment it weighed some 82 tons.
• The "Castle Bravo" shot of 1 March 1954, was the first test of a deployable (solid fuel) thermonuclear weapon, and also (accidentally) the largest weapon ever tested by the United States (15 megatons). It was also the single largest U.S. radiological accident in connection with nuclear testing. The unanticipated yield, and a change in the weather, resulted in nuclear fallout spreading eastward onto the inhabited Rongelap and Rongerik atolls, which were soon evacuated. Many of the Marshall Islands natives have since suffered from birth defects and have received some compensation from the federal government. A Japanese fishing boat, the Fifth Lucky Dragon, also came into contact with the fallout, which caused many of the crew to grow ill; one eventually died.
• Shot "Argus I" of Operation Argus, on 27 August 1958, was the first detonation of a nuclear weapon in outer space when a 1.7-kiloton warhead was detonated at 200 kilometers' altitude during a series of high altitude nuclear explosions.
• Shot "Frigate Bird" of Operation Dominic I on 6 May 1962, was the only U.S. test of an operational ballistic missile with a live nuclear warhead (yield of 600 kilotons), at Christmas Island. In general, missile systems were tested without live warheads and warheads were tested separately for safety concerns. In the early 1960s, however, there mounted technical questions about how the systems would behave under combat conditions (when they were "mated", in military parlance), and this test was meant to dispel these concerns. However, the warhead had to be somewhat modified before its use, and the missile was only a SLBM (and not an ICBM), so by itself it did not satisfy all concerns.^[2]
• Shot "Sedan" of Operation Storax on 6 July 1962 (yield of 104 kilotons), was an attempt at showing the feasibility of using nuclear weapons for "civilian" and "peaceful" purposes as part of Operation Plowshare. In this instance, a 1280-feet-in-diameter and 320-feet-deep crater was created at the Nevada Test Site.

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union conducted 715 nuclear tests (by official count)^[3] between 1949 and 1990, including 219 atmospheric, underwater, and space tests. Most of them took place at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan and the Northern Test Site at Novaya Zemlya. Additional tests were conducted at various locations in Russia and Kazakhstan, while a small number of tests were conducted in Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

Some significant Soviet tests include:

• Operation First Lightning/RDS-1 (known as Joe 1 in the West), August 29, 1949 — first Soviet nuclear test.
• RDS-6s (known as Joe 4 in the West), August 12, 1953 — first Soviet thermonuclear test (not a "true" hydrogen bomb).
• RDS-37, November 22, 1955 — first Soviet multi-megaton, "true" hydrogen bomb test.
• Tsar Bomba, October 30, 1961 — largest nuclear weapon ever detonated, with a yield of 50 Mt.
• Chagan, January 15, 1965 — large cratering experiment as part of Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy program.

The last Soviet test took place on October 24, 1990. After the dissolution of the USSR in 1992, Russia inherited their former nuclear stockpile, but has not conducted any nuclear tests.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has conducted 45 tests (21 in Australian territory, including 9 in mainland South Australia at Maralinga and Emu Field, many others in the U.S. as part of joint test series). Tests include:

• Operation Hurricane, October 3, 1952 (first atomic bomb)
• Operation Totem, 1953
• Operation Mosaic, 1956
• Operation Buffalo, 1956
• Operation Antler, 1957
• Operation Grapple, 1957–1958 (first hydrogen bomb)

Last test: Julin Bristol, November 26, 1991, vertical shaft.

Atmospheric tests involving nuclear material but conventional explosions:^[4]

• Operation Kittens, 1953-1961 (initiator tests using conventional explosive)
• Operation Rats, 1956-1960 (conventional explosions to study dispersal of uranium)
• Operation Tims, 1955-1963 (conventional explosions for tamper, plutonium compression trials)
• Operation Vixen, 1959-1963 (effects of accidental fire or explosion on nuclear weapons)

France

France conducted 210 nuclear tests between February 13, 1960 and January 27, 1996.^[5]

• Operation Gerboise bleue, February 13, 1960 (first atomic bomb) and three more — Reggane, Algeria; in the atmosphere; final test reputed to be more intended to prevent the weapon from falling into the hands of generals rebelling against Charles de Gaulle than for testing purposes.^[6]
• Operation Agathe, November 7, 1961 and 12 more — In Ekker, Hoggar Algeria; underground
• Operation Aldébaran, July 2, 1966 and 45 more — Mururoa and Fangataufa, French Polynesia; in the atmosphere;
  • first hydrogen bomb: August 28, 1968 Canopus (Fangataufa)
• Operation Achille June 5, 1975 and 146 more — Mururoa and Fangataufa, French Polynesia; underground
  • last test: January 27, 1996 Operation Xouthos (Fangataufa)

China

The People's Republic of China conducted 45 tests (23 atmospheric and 22 underground, all conducted at Lop Nur Nuclear Weapons Test Base, in Malan, Xinjiang)

• First test: "596" — October 16, 1964
• First hydrogen bomb test: "Test No. 6" - June 17, 1967
• 200kT-1MT atmospheric test, June 17, 1974 (16th test)^[7]
• Last atmospheric test: October 16, 1980. This would also be the last atmospheric nuclear test by any other country^[8]
• Last test: July 29, 1996, underground.^[9]

India

India firstly publicly reported conducted a test of single device in 1974 near at the Pakistan's eastern border under the codename Operation Smiling Buddha. After 24 years, India publicly announced the 5 nuclear tests on May 11 and May 13, 1998, respectively. The official number of Indian nuclear tests are 6, conducted under two different code-names and in different time intervals.

• May 18, 1974 — Operation Smiling Buddha (type: implosion, plutonium and underground). One underground test horizontal-shaft around 107m long under the long-constructed Indian Army Pokhran Test Range (IA-PTR) in the Thar Desert, eastern border of Pakistan. The Indian Meteorological Department and the Atomic Energy Commission announced the yield of the weapon 12kt. Other Western sources claimed the yield at around 2~12kt. However, the claim was dismissed by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and it was later reported to be 8kt.^[10]
• May 11, 1998 — Operation Shakti, (type: Implosion, 3 uranium and 2 plutonium devices, and all underground): Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) of India, and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) publicly simultaneously conducted with test of three nuclear devices at the long constructed Indian Army Pokhran Test Range (IAPTR) on May 11 of 1998. On May 13, two days after these recent tests, the AEC and DRDO carried out the test of two nuclear devices, detonated simultaneously. During this operation, AEC India claimed to to have tested the three-stage thermonuclear device (Teller-Ulam design) but the yield of tests were significantly lower than the thermonuclear devices are expected to produce. In 2009, K. Santhanam, senior nuclear scientists who witnessed the tests, reportedly told the press that the 1998 tests were not as successful as the then BJP government had claimed they were, and the thermonuclear device was failed to produced any significant data expected by the seismologists. However, the claims were widely dismissed by nuclear physicist dr. Abdul Kalam, who cited evidence and data to prove his point.

Pakistan

Pakistan conducted 6 official tests, under 2 different code names, in the end week of May 1998. From 1983 to 1994, around 24 nuclear cold tests were carried out by Pakistan; these remains unannounced and classified until 2000. In May 1998, Pakistan responded publicly by testing 6 nuclear devices.^[11]

• March 11, 1983, — Kirana-I (type: implosion, non-fissioned (plutonium) and underground). The 24 underground cold-tests of nuclear devices were experimentally performed at near the Sargodha Air Force Base.^[12] Due to serious political repercussions, Pakistan did not announce the results of the tests or even the yield of the first weapon still remains classified.^[12] Because it was a cold test,^[13] the Pakistan Atomic Scientists Foundation (PASF) estimated the yield at no more than around 12–25 kilotonnes.^[12]

• May 28, 1998 — Chagai-I (type: implosion, HEU and underground). One underground horizontal-shaft tunnel test (inside a granite mountain) of boosted fission devices at Koh Kambaran in the Ras Koh Hills in Chagai District of Balochistan Province.^[11][14] The announced yield of the five devices was a total of 40–45 kilotonnes with the largest having a yield of approximately 30–45 kilotonnes.
• May 30, 1998 — Chagai-II (type: implosion, plutonium device and underground). One underground vertical-shaft tunnel test of a miniaturized fission device having an announced yield of approximately 18–20 kilotonnes in the Kharan Desert in Kharan District of Balochistan Province.^[14]

North Korea

On October 9, 2006 North Korea announced they had conducted a nuclear test in North Hamgyong Province on the northeast coast at 10:36 AM (11:30 AEST). There was a 3.58 magnitude earthquake reported in South Korea. There was a 4.2 magnitude tremor detected 240 miles north of P'yongyang. The low estimates on the yield of the test — potentially less than a kiloton in strength — have led to speculation as to whether it was a fizzle (unsuccessful test), or a genuine nuclear test at all.

On May 25, 2009, North Korea announced having conducted a second nuclear test. A tremor, with magnitude reports ranging from 4.7 to 5.3, was detected 233 miles northeast of P'yongyang, within a few kilometers of the 2006 test location. While estimates as to yield are still uncertain, with reports ranging from 3 to 20 kilotons, the stronger tremor indicates a significantly larger yield than the 2006 test.

Alleged tests

There have been a number of significant alleged/disputed/unacknowledged accounts of countries testing nuclear explosives. Their status is either not certain or entirely disputed by most mainstream experts.

Japan

There is a disputed report about the Japanese atomic program being able to test a nuclear weapon in Korea on August 12, 1945, a few days after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, and three days before the Japanese surrender on August 15, but this is seen as being highly unlikely by mainstream historians.

Vela incident

In what is known as the Vela Incident, some country may have detonated a nuclear device on September 22, 1979 in the Indian Ocean, according to satellite data. It is not certain whether there was actually a test, or if it was who would have been responsible for it although France,^[15] Israel or South Africa are sometimes named.

Pakistan

Because Pakistan's nuclear development was established and development under extreme secrecy that it raised concerns in Soviet Union and India, who suspected that since 1974 test, it will inevitable that Pakistan will developed the counter-programme. The pro-Soviet newspaper, The Patriot, reported that "Pakistan has exploded a nuclear device in the range of 20 to 50 kilotons in 1983.^[16] But it was widely dismissed by Western diplomats as it was pointed out that The Patriot has previously engaged in spreading disinformation on several occasions. In 1983, India and Soviet Union both investigated secret testings but, due to lack of any scientific data, these statements were widely dismissed.^[17]

In their book, The Nuclear Express, authors Thomas Reed and Danny Stillman also allege that the People's Republic of China allowed Pakistan to detonate a nuclear weapon at its Lop Nur test site in 1990, eight years before Pakistan held its first official weapons test.^[18]

However, senior scientist Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan strongly rejected the claim in May 1998.^[19] According to Khan, due to its sensitivity, no country allows another country to use their tests site to explode the devices.^[19] Such an agreement only existed between the United States and the United Kingdom during 1940s, when the Manhattan Project was in effect.^[19] Dr. Samar Mubarakmand, another senior scientist, also confirmed Dr. Khan's statement and acknowledged that cold tests were carried out, under codename Kirana-I, in a test site which was built by the Corps of Engineers under the guidance of the PAEC.^[20]

North Korea

On September 9, 2004 it was reported by South Korean media that there had been a large explosion at the Chinese/North Korean border. This explosion left a crater visible by satellite and precipitated a large (2 mile diameter) mushroom cloud. The United States and South Korea quickly downplayed this, explaining it away as a forest fire that had nothing to do with the DPRK's nuclear weapons program.

Germany

Hitlers Bombe, a book published in German by the historian Rainer Karlsch in 2005, has alleged that there is evidence that Nazi Germany performed some sort of test of a "nuclear device" (a hybrid fusion device unlike any modern nuclear weapons) in March 1945, though the evidence for this has not yet been fully evaluated, and has been doubted by many historians.

Tests of live warheads on rockets

The Frigate Bird explosion seen through the periscope of USS Carbonero (SS-337).

Missiles and nuclear warheads have usually been tested separately, because testing them together is considered highly dangerous (they are the most extreme type of live fire exercise). The only US live test of an operational missile was the following:

• Frigate Bird — on May 6, 1962, a UGM-27 Polaris A-2 missile with a live 600 kt W47 warhead was launched from the USS Ethan Allen; it flew 1900 km, re-entered the atmosphere, and detonated at an altitude of 3.4 km over the South Pacific. The test was part of Operation Dominic I. Planned as a method to dispel doubts about whether the USA's nuclear missiles would actually function in practice, it had less effect than was hoped^{[clarification needed]}, as the stockpile warhead was substantially modified prior to testing, and the missile tested was a relatively low-flying^{[clarification needed]} SLBM and not a high-flying ICBM.

Other live tests with the nuclear explosive delivered by rocket by the USA include:

• On August 1, 1958, Redstone rocket #CC50 launched nuclear test Teak that detonated at an altitude of 77.8-km. On August 12, 1958, Redstone #CC51 launched nuclear test Orange to a detonation altitude of 43 km. Both were part of Operation Hardtack I and had a yield of 3.75 Mt
• Operation Argus — three tests, August 27, August 30, and September 6, 1958
• On July 9, 1962, Thor missile 195 launched a Mk4 reentry vehicle containing a W49 thermonuclear warhead to an altitude of 248 miles (400 km). The warhead detonated with a yield of 1.45 Mt. This was the Starfish Prime event of nuclear test operation Dominic-Fishbowl
• In the Dominic-Fishbowl series in 1962: Checkmate, Bluegill, Kingfish, and Tightrope

The Soviet Union tested a number of nuclear explosives on rockets as part of their development of a localised anti-ballistic missile system in the 1960s. Some of the Soviet nuclear tests with warheads delivered by rocket include:

• Operation Baikal (February 2, 1956, at Aralsk) - one test, with a R-5M rocket launch from Kapustin Yar.
• Operation ZUR-215 (January 19, 1957, at Kapustin Yar) - one test, with a rocket launch from Kapustin Yar.
• Operation Groza (September 6, 1961, at Kapustin Yar) - one test, with a rocket launch from Kapustin Yar.
• Operation Grom (October 6, 1961, at Kapustin Yar) - one test, with a rocket launch from Kapustin Yar.
• Operation Volga (September, 1961, at Novaya Zemlya) - two tests, with R-11M rockets launch from Rogachevo.
• Operation Roza (September, 1961, at Novaya Zemlya) - two tests, with R-12 rockets launch from Vorkuta.
• Raduga (October 20, 1961, at Novaya Zemlya) - one test, with a R-13 rocket launch.
• Operation Tyulpan (September, 1962, at Novaya Zemlya) - probabily two tests, with R-14 rockets launch from Chita.
• Operation K (1961 and 1962, at Sary-Shagan) - five tests, with rockets launch from Kapustin Yar.

The People's Republic of China conducted a test with a Dongfeng-2 rocket launch in October 27, 1966. The warhead exploded with a yield of 12 kt.

List of most powerful nuclear tests

The following incomplete list contains nuclear tests conducted with a yield of over 10 Mt TNT.

See also

• Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents

References

External links

• United States Nuclear Tests July 1945 through September 1992
• Australian Government — Geoscience Australia — database of nuclear explosions since 1945
• Video archive of nuclear weapon testing

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