Nuclear weapons testing

Aside from these technical considerations, tests have been conducted for political and training purposes, and can often serve multiple purposes.

Alternatives to full-scale testing

Computer simulation is used extensively to provide as much information as possible without physical testing. Mathematical models for such simulation model scenarios not only of performance but also of shelf life and maintenance.^[4][5] A theme has generally been that even though simulations cannot fully replace physical testing, they can reduce the amount of it that is necessary.^[6]

Hydronuclear tests study nuclear materials under the conditions of explosive shock compression. They can create subcritical conditions, or supercritical conditions with yields ranging from negligible all the way up to a substantial fraction of full weapon yield.^[7]

Critical mass experiments determine the quantity of fissile material required for criticality with a variety of fissile material compositions, densities, shapes, and reflectors. They can be subcritical or supercritical, in which case significant radiation fluxes can be produced. This type of test has resulted in several criticality accidents.

Subcritical (or cold) tests are any type of tests involving nuclear materials and possibly

Subcritical tests executed by the United States include:[12]^[13][14]

History

The United States conducted six atomic tests before the Soviet Union developed their first atomic bomb (RDS-1) and tested it on August 29, 1949. Neither country had very many atomic weapons to spare at first, and so testing was relatively infrequent (when the U.S. used two weapons for Operation Crossroads in 1946, they were detonating over 20% of their current arsenal). However, by the 1950s the United States had established a dedicated test site on its own territory (Nevada Test Site) and was also using a site in the Marshall Islands (Pacific Proving Grounds) for extensive atomic and nuclear testing.

The early tests were used primarily to discern the military effects of atomic weapons (Crossroads had involved the effect of atomic weapons on a navy, and how they functioned underwater) and to test new weapon designs. During the 1950s, these included new hydrogen bomb designs, which were tested in the Pacific, and also new and improved fission weapon designs. The Soviet Union also began testing on a limited scale, primarily in Kazakhstan. During the later phases of the Cold War, though, both countries developed accelerated testing programs, testing many hundreds of bombs over the last half of the 20th century.

Atomic and nuclear tests can involve many hazards. Some of these were illustrated in the U.S.

A tacit moratorium on testing was in effect from 1958 to 1961 and ended with a series of Soviet tests in late 1961, including the Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever tested. The United States responded in 1962 with Operation Dominic, involving dozens of tests, including the explosion of a missile launched from a submarine.

Almost all new nuclear powers have announced their possession of nuclear weapons with a nuclear test. The only acknowledged nuclear power that claims never to have conducted a test was South Africa (although see Vela incident), which has since dismantled all of its weapons. Israel is widely thought to possess a sizable nuclear arsenal, though it has never tested, unless they were involved in Vela. Experts disagree on whether states can have reliable nuclear arsenals—especially ones using advanced warhead designs, such as hydrogen bombs and miniaturized weapons—without testing, though all agree that it is very unlikely to develop significant nuclear innovations without testing. One other approach is to use supercomputers to conduct "virtual" testing, but codes need to be validated against test data.

There have been many attempts to limit the number and size of nuclear tests; the most far-reaching is the

In total nuclear test megatonnage, from 1945 to 1992, 520 atmospheric nuclear explosions (including eight underwater) were conducted with a total yield of 545 megatons,^[21] with a peak occurring in 1961–1962, when 340 megatons were detonated in the atmosphere by the United States and Soviet Union,^[22] while the estimated number of underground nuclear tests conducted in the period from 1957 to 1992 was 1,352 explosions with a total yield of 90 Mt.^[21]

• 
  The first atomic test, "

  Trinity

  ", took place on July 16, 1945.
• 
  The Sedan test of 1962 was an experiment by the United States in using nuclear weapons to excavate large amounts of earth.
• 
  Kytoon balloons were used on Indian Springs Air Force Base, Nevada, April 20, 1952 to get exact weather information during atomic test periods.

Yield

The yields of atomic bombs and thermonuclear are typically measured in different amounts. Thermonuclear bombs can be hundreds or thousands of times stronger than their atomic counterparts. Due to this, thermonuclear bombs' yields are usually expressed in megatons which is about the equivalent of 1,000,000 tons of TNT. In contrast, atomic bombs' yields are typically measured in kilotons, or about 1,000 tons of TNT.

In US context, it was decided during the Manhattan Project that yield measured in tons of TNT equivalent could be imprecise. This comes from the range of experimental values of the energy content of TNT, ranging from 900 to 1,100 calories per gram (3,800 to 4,600 kJ/g). There is also the issue of which ton to use, as short tons, long tons, and metric tonnes all have different values. It was therefore decided that one kiloton would be equivalent to 1.0×10¹² calories (4.2×10¹² kJ).^[23]

Nuclear testing by country

The nuclear powers have conducted more than 2,000 nuclear test explosions (numbers are approximate, as some test results have been disputed):

• United States' table data
  .
• Soviet Union: 715 tests (involving 969 devices) by official count, plus 13 unnumbered test failures.^[26][27] Most were at their Southern Test Area at Semipalatinsk Test Site and the Northern Test Area at Novaya Zemlya. Others include rocket tests and peaceful-use explosions at various sites in Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. Soviet Union's table data.
• The United Kingdom's summary table
  .
• In Ekker in the French Algerian Sahara, and nuclear atmospheric and underground tests at and around Fangataufa and Moruroa Atolls in French Polynesia. Four of the In Ekker tests are counted as peaceful use, as they were reported as part of the CET's APEX (Application pacifique des expérimentations nucléaires, “Peaceful Application of Nuclear Experiments”), and given alternate names. France's summary table
  .
• China's summary table
  .
• India's summary table
  .
• Pakistan's summary table
  .
• North Korea's summary table

Treaties against testing

There are many existing anti-nuclear explosion treaties, notably the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. These treaties were proposed in response to growing international concerns about environmental damage among other risks. Nuclear testing involving humans also contributed to the formation of these treaties. Examples can be seen in the following articles:

• Desert Rock exercises
• Totskoye range nuclear tests

The Partial Nuclear Test Ban treaty makes it illegal to detonate any nuclear explosion anywhere except underground, in order to reduce atmospheric fallout. Most countries have signed and ratified the Partial Nuclear Test Ban, which went into effect in October 1963. Of the nuclear states, France, China, and North Korea have never signed the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.^[33]

The 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) bans all nuclear explosions everywhere, including underground. For that purpose, the

Over 500 atmospheric nuclear weapons tests were conducted at various sites around the world from 1945 to 1980. As public awareness and concern mounted over the possible health hazards associated with exposure to the nuclear fallout, various studies were done to assess the extent of the hazard. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/ National Cancer Institute study claims that nuclear fallout might have led to approximately 11,000 excess deaths, most caused by thyroid cancer linked to exposure to iodine-131.^[37]

• United States: Prior to March 2009, the U.S. was the only nation to compensate nuclear test victims. Since the
  Runit Dome in the Marshall Islands.^[39]
• France: In March 2009, the French Government offered to compensate victims for the first time and legislation is being drafted which would allow payments to people who suffered health problems related to the tests. The payouts would be available to victims' descendants and would include Algerians, who were exposed to nuclear testing in the Sahara in 1960. However, victims say the eligibility requirements for compensation are too narrow.^[citation needed]
• United Kingdom: There is no formal British government compensation program. However, nearly 1,000 veterans of
  Christmas Island nuclear tests in the 1950s are engaged in legal action against the Ministry of Defense for negligence. They say they suffered health problems and were not warned of potential dangers before the experiments.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Russia: Decades later, Russia offered compensation to veterans who were part of the 1954 Totsk test. However, there was no compensation to civilians sickened by the Totsk test. Anti-nuclear groups say there has been no government compensation for other nuclear tests.^{[citation needed]}
• China: China has undertaken highly secretive atomic tests in remote deserts in a Central Asian border province. Anti-nuclear activists say there is no known government program for compensating victims.^{[citation needed]}

Milestone nuclear explosions

The following list is of milestone nuclear explosions. In addition to the

• "Staged" refers to whether it was a "true"
  List of nuclear tests. Some exact yield estimates, such as that of the Tsar Bomba
  and the tests by India and Pakistan in 1998, are somewhat contested among specialists.

Explanatory notes

Citations

1. ^ "The Treaty has not been signed by France or by the People's Republic of China." U.S. Department of State, Limited Test Ban Treaty.
2. ^ For a longer and more technical discussion, see U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment (October 1989). The Containment of Underground Nuclear Explosions (PDF). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-02-27. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
3. ^ Yang, Xiaoping; North, Robert; Romney, Carl; Richards, Paul R. "Worldwide Nuclear Explosions" (PDF).
4. ^ Scoles, Sarah (2023-04-20). "Trust but verify: U.S. labs are overhauling the nuclear stockpile. Can they validate the weapons without bomb tests?". Science.
5. ^ Hoffman, David E. (2011-11-01). "Supercomputers offer tools for nuclear testing — and solving nuclear mysteries". Washington Post.
6. ^ Associated Press (2006-10-18). "Supercomputers can't perfectly simulate nuclear blasts: Experts". CBC News.
7. ^ Carey Sublette (9 August 2001), Nuclear Weapons Frequently Asked Questions, section 4.1.9, retrieved 10 April 2011
8. ^ Jonathan Medalia (12 March 2008), Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty: Issues and Arguments (PDF), Congressional Research Service, pp. 20–22, retrieved 9 December 2013
9. ^ Medalia, Jonathan (2005-03-11). "Nuclear Weapons: Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty" (PDF). Congressional Record Service. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
10. ^ "US conducts 'subcritical' nuclear test". zeenews.india.com. 2012-12-07. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
11. ^ Thomas Nilsen (2 October 2012). "Subcritical nuke tests may be resumed at Novaya Zemlya". barentsobserver.com. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
12. ^ Papazian, Ghazar R.; Reinovsky, Robert E.; Beatty, Jerry N. (2003). "The New World of the Nevada Test Site" (PDF). Los Alamos Science (28). Retrieved 2013-12-12.
13. ^ Thorn, Robert N.; Westervelt, Donald R. (February 1, 1987). "Hydronuclear Experiments" (PDF). LANL Report LA-10902-MS. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
14. ^ Conrad, David C. (July 1, 2000). "Underground explosions are music to their ears". Science and Technology Review. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
15. ^ Nevada Test Site: U1a Complex subcritical experiments (PDF) (Report). DOE Nevada. February 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2003.
16. ^ Kishner, Andrew (18 September 2018). "U.S. Sneaks in 'Vega,' Its 28th Subcritical Nuclear Test". Retrieved 30 October 2019.
17. ^ O'Brien, Nolan (24 May 2019). "Subcritical experiment captures scientific measurements to advance stockpile safety". LLNL. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
18. ^ "US conducted subcritical nuclear test in November". NHK World-Japan. 16 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
19. OSTI 1338708
    .
20. ^ Togzhan Kassenova (28 September 2009). "The lasting toll of Semipalatinsk's nuclear testing". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
21. ^
    ISBN 978-3-642-08359-4
    .
22. ^ "Radioactive Fallout - Worldwide Effects of Nuclear War - Historical Documents". Atomciarchive.com.
23. ^ The Containment of Underground Explosions (Report). Office of Technology Assessment. 31 October 1989. p. 11. OTA-ISC-414.
24. ^ "United States Nuclear Tests: July 1945 through September 1992" (PDF). Las Vegas, NV: Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office. 2000-12-01. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-10-12. Retrieved 2013-12-18. This is usually cited as the "official" US list.
25. ^ Long, Kat. "Blasts from the Past: Old Nuke Test Films Offer New Insights [Video]". Scientific American. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
26. ^ "USSR Nuclear Weapons Tests and Peaceful Nuclear Explosions 1949 through 1990" (Document). Sarov, Russia: RFNC-VNIIEF. 1996. The official Russian list of Soviet tests.
27. ^ Mikhailov, Editor in Chief, V.N.; Andryushin, L.A.; Voloshin, N.P.; Ilkaev, R.I.; Matushchenko, A.M.; Ryabev, L.D.; Strukov, V.G.; Chernyshev, A.K.; Yudin, Yu.A. "Catalog of Worldwide Nuclear Testing". Archived from the original on 2013-12-19. Retrieved 2013-12-28. {{cite web}}: |last1= has generic name (help)An equivalent list available on the internet.
28. ^ "British nuclear weapons testing in Australia | ARPANSA". Retrieved 2022-11-02.
29. ^ "UK/US Agreement". Archived from the original on 2007-06-07. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
30. ^ "N° 3571.- Rapport de MM. Christian Bataille et Henri Revol sur les incidences environnementales et sanitaires des essais nucléaires effectués par la France entre 1960 et 1996 (Office d'évaluation des choix scientifiques et technologiques)". Assemblee-nationale.fr. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
31. ^ "Nuclear Weapons Test List". Fas.org. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
32. ^ "Pakistan Special Weapons - A Chronology". Archived from the original on 2012-04-27. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
33. ^ U.S. Department of State, Limited Test Ban Treaty.
34. ^ "CTBTO Factsheet: Ending Nuclear Explosions" (PDF). Ctbto.org. Retrieved 2012-05-23.
35. ^ "Status of signature and ratification". Ctbto.org. Retrieved 2012-05-23.
36. ^ "The Status of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty: Signatories and Ratifiers". Arms Control Association. March 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
37. PMID 25057651
    .
38. ^ "Radiation Exposure Compensation System: Claims to Date Summary of Claims Received by 06/11/2009" (PDF). Usdoj.gov.
39. ^ "Troops Who Cleaned Up Radioactive Islands Can't Get Medical Care". The New York Times. 28 January 2017.
40. ^ "Pakistan Nuclear Weapons: A Brief History of Pakistan's Nuclear Program". Federation of American Scientists. 11 December 2002. Retrieved 30 October 2019.

General and cited references

• Gusterson, Hugh. Nuclear Rites: A Weapons Laboratory at the End of the Cold War. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996.
• Hacker, Barton C. Elements of Controversy: The Atomic Energy Commission and Radiation Safety in Nuclear Weapons Testing, 1947–1974. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994.
• Rice, James. Downwind of the Atomic State: Atmospheric Testing and the Rise of the Risk Society. (New York University Press, 2023). https://nyupress.org/9781479815340/downwind-of-the-atomic-state/
• Schwartz, Stephen I. Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 1998.
• Weart, Spencer R. Nuclear Fear: A History of Images. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nuclear weapon tests.

• Federation of American Scientists Archived 2016-09-04 at the Wayback Machine
• Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty Organization
• Nuclear Weapon Archive
• NuclearFiles.org
• What About Radiation on Bikini Atoll?
• "Time-lapse map of all nuclear weapon tests from 1945 to 1998." on
  YouTube
• Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
• Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
• Atomic Bomb website and nuclear weapon testing articles
• The Woodrow Wilson Center's Nuclear Proliferation International History Project