Nuclear testing Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
A nuclear test explosion is an experiment involving the detonation of a nuclear weapon.in 1945.]]Motivations for testing generally are broken into the categories of "weapons related" (verifying that a weapon works, or examining exactly how it works), and "weapons effects" (how weapons behave under various conditions, and how structures behave when subjected to weapons). Often, though, weapons testing has also been a demonstration of the possessing nation's military and scientific strength.
Nuclear weapons tests are generally classified as being either "atmospheric" (in or above the atmosphere), "underground," or "underwater." Of these, underground testing contained in deep shafts poses the least health risk in terms of fallout. Atmospheric testing which comes in contact with the ground or other materials poses the highest risk. Nuclear weapons have been tested by dropping them from planes (an "airdrop"), from the tops of towers, hoisted from balloons, on barges at sea, attached to the bottom of ships, and even shot into outer space by rockets.
The first atomic test was detonated by the United States at the Trinity site on July 16, 1945, with a yield approximately equivalent to 20 kilotons. The first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike", was tested at Eniwetok island in the Bikini atoll on November 1, 1952, also by the United States. The largest nuclear weapon ever tested was the Tsar Bomba of the Soviet Union at Novaya Zemlya, with an estimated yield of around 57 megatons.
In 1963, all nuclear and many non-nuclear states signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty, pledging to refrain from testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, underwater, or in outer space. France continued atmospheric testing until 1974, while China continued up until 1980. The last test by the United States was in 1992, the Soviet Union in 1990, the United Kingdom in 1991, and both France and China have continued testing up until 1996. After adopting the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996, all of these states have pledged to discontinue all nuclear testing. Non-signatories India and Pakistan both last tested nuclear weapons in 1998.
There have been around 2,000 nuclear test explosions:
- U.S: 1,030 tests (involving 1,125 devices)
- Soviet Union: 715 tests
- France: 210 tests
- Britain: 45 tests (21 in Australian territory, including 9 in mainland South Australia at Maralinga and Emu Field, many others in the U.S.)
- China: 45 tests (23 atmospheric and 22 underground, all conducted at Lop Nur Nuclear Weapons Test Base, in Malan, Xinjiang)
- India: 6 tests.
- Pakistan: 6 tests.
- Israel/South Africa: 1 test (putative -- see below).
- North Korea: 1 test (putative -- see below)
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The United States has conducted numerous nuclear tests throughout the nation including the Nevada Test Site, the Marshall Islands, Alaska, and even Farmington, New Mexico.
Known test series designations
US
observes Operation Hardtacks's Juniper test.]]
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USSR
UK
France
India
Israel/South Africa
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. For more, see Ryanggang explosion.
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