List of nuclear 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.
Contents
Nuclear tests by known nuclear countries
United States of America
The United States conducted around 1,054 nuclear tests between 1945 and 1992. Most of the tests took place at the Nevada Test Site and the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Marshall Islands. Ten other tests took place at various locations in the United States, including Alaska, Colorado, Mississippi, and New Mexico.
1945-1963
| Year | Series | No. shots | Total yields | Location(s) | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1945
| Trinity | 1 | 20 kt
| Alamogordo, New Mexico
| 
| First ever nuclear explosion. |
| 1946
| Crossroads | 2 | 46 kt
| Pacific Proving Grounds
|
| First postwar test series. |
| 1948
| Sandstone | 3 | 104 kt
| Pacific Proving Grounds
| 
| The first use of "levitated" cores. |
| 1951
| Ranger | 5 | 40 kt
| Nevada Test Site
| 
| First tests at the Nevada Test Site. |
| 1951
| Greenhouse | 4 | 398.5 kt
| Pacific Proving Grounds
| 
| "George" shot was physics experiment relating to the hydrogen bomb; "Item" shot was first boosted fission weapon. |
| 1951
| Buster-Jangle | 7 | 71.9 kt
| Nevada Test Site
| 
| Many shots done in conjunction with troop exercises on ground. |
| 1952
| Tumbler-Snapper | 7 | 104 kt
| Nevada Test Site
| 
| Operation "Snapper" tested a number of new devices, and also explored the "rope trick effect". |
| 1952
| Ivy | 2 | 10.9 Mt
| Pacific Proving Grounds
| 
| "Mike" shot was first hydrogen bomb; "King" shot was largest pure-fission bomb (500 kt). |
| 1953
| Upshot-Knothole | 11 | 252.4 kt
| Nevada Test Site
| 
| "Grable" shot was from an "atomic cannon". |
| 1954
| Castle | 6 | 48.2 Mt
| Pacific Proving Grounds
| 
| Deployable thermonuclears. "Bravo" was over twice as large as expected (most powerful ever by U.S.) and spread fallout over a wide area. |
| 1955
| Teapot | 14 | 167.8 kt
| Nevada Test Site
| 
| First successful designs by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (after two years of trying). |
| 1955
| Wigwam | 1 | 30 kt
| Pacific Ocean
| 
| A single shot, 2000 ft underwater, to determine the vulnerability of submarines to nuclear explosions. |
| 1955
| Project 56 | 4 | .01 to .1 kt
| Nevada Test Site
|
| Four 'one-point' safety tests, to ensure the safety of deployed designs. |
| 1956
| Red Wing | 17 | 20.82 Mt
| Pacific Proving Grounds
| 
| All thermonuclear weapons designs tests, including first "three stage" weapon test. |
| 1957
| Plumbbob | 29 | 343.74 kt
| Nevada Test Site
| 
| One of the most controversial test series, release more radiation to continental U.S. than any series. Close proximity of troop exercises to shot "Smoky" produced significantly increased levels of leukemia among soldiers participating. |
| 1957-58
| Project 57, 58, 58A | 5 | 0.5 kt
| Nevada Test Site
|
| Five 'one-point' safety tests, to ensure the safety of deployed designs. |
| 1958
| Chariot | Cancelled
| Cape Thompson, Alaska
| 
| Had planned to create an artificial harbor in Alaska as part of Operation Plowshare using thermonuclear explosions. Was eventually cancelled amid controversy and outcry. | |
| 1958
| Hardtack I | 35 | 35.6 Mt
| Pacific Proving Grounds
| 
| |
| 1958
| Argus | 3 | 5.1 kt
| South Atlantic Ocean
|
| Clandestine high-altitude test series carried out 1,110 miles southwest of South Africa to test whether nuclear explosions could create artificial Van Allen belts in near space. |
| 1958
| Hardtack II | 37 | 45.8 kt
| Nevada Test Site
| 
| |
| 1961-62
| Nougat | 44 |
| Nevada Test Site, Carlsbad, New Mexico
| 
| First all-underground test series. Included Operation Plowshare shot "Gnome" in Carlsbad, New Mexico which was detonated in an underground salt dome. |
| 1962-63
| Dominic | 36 | 38.1 Mt
| Christmas Island, Johnston Island, Central Pacific Ocean
| 
| "Frigate Bird" was the only operational test of a missile "mated" with a live warhead. Series also included three high-altitude tests known as Operation Fishbowl. |
| 1962-63
| Storax | 48 |
| Nevada Test Site
| 
| Included the "Sedan" test, a cratering experiment as part of Operation Plowshare. |
| 1962
| Roller Coaster | 4 | 0
| Nellis Air Force Range, Nevada
|
| Storage-transportation safety experiment, measured plutonium dispersal risk. |
| 1962
| Sunbeam | 4 | 2.19 kt
| Nevada Test Site
| 
| Test of small tactical warheads, including the man-portable "Davy Crockett". Last atmospheric test series. |
1963-1992
After the signing of the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963, all U.S. nuclear testing became underground testing. Operation Plowshare, and done during many different test series.The United States has not conducted any tests since 1992, though they have conducted a number of sub-critical tests (which do not involve a chain reaction).
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union conducted between 715 and 969 nuclear tests between 1949 and 1990. 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 Turkmenia.
Some signficant Soviet tests include:
- Operation First Lightning/RDS-1 (known as Joe 1 in the West), 29 August 1949 — first Soviet nuclear test.
- RDS-4 (known as Joe 4 in the West), 12 August 1953 — first Soviet thermonuclear test (not a "true" hydrogen bomb).
- RDS-37, 22 November 1955 — first Soviet multi-megaton, "true" hydrogen bomb test.
- Tsar Bomba, 30 October 1961 — largest nuclear weapon ever detonated, with a yield of 50 Mt.
- Chagan, 15 January 1965 — large cratering experiment as part of Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy program.
UK
- Operation Hurricane, 3 October, 1952 (first atomic bomb)
- Operation Rats, 1953
- Operation Mosaic, 1956
- Operation Buffalo, 1956
- Operation Antler, 1957
- Operation Grapple, 1957 - 1958 (first hydrogen bomb)
- Operation Totem, 1953
- Operation Vixens, 1963
France
France conducted 210 nuclear tests between February 13, 1960 and January 27, 1996. [link]- Operation Gerboise bleue, February 13,1960 (first atomic bomb) and three more - Reggane, Algeria; in the atmosphere
- 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
- First test: October 16, 1964
- First hydrogen bomb: June 17, 1967
- Last test: July 29, 1996, underground.
India
- Operation Smiling Buddha, 18 May, 1974 - implosion type, plutonium, underground, 6 to 20 kt
- Operation Shakti, all underground:
- *11 May, 1998 - three simultaneously, of which one was claimed to be a fusion device (this is disputed by outsider observers)
- *13 May, 1998 - two simultaneously
Pakistan
Tests in response to the Indian tests:- May 28, 1998 - five simultaneously (number is disputed by observers, but assumed to be at least two)
- May 30, 1998 - one
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. See Japanese atomic program for more information.Israel/South Africa
In what is known as the Vela Incident, Israel and/or South Africa 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, also it is not known who would have been responsible for it. See Vela Incident for more information.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 which had nothing to do with the DPRK's nuclear weapons program. See Ryanggang explosion for more information.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
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-1 missile with a live 600 kt W47 warhead was launched from the USS Ethan Allen (SSBN-608); 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, as the stockpile warhead was substantially modified prior to testing, and the missile tested was a relatively low-flying SLBM and not a high-flying ICBM.
- Operation Argus - three tests
- 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 and had a yield of 3.75 Mt
- 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 same series in 1962: Checkmate, Bluegill, Kingfish, and Tightrope
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