Nuclear Testing

Nuclear Testing

Intro

"In the dim light of a hospital room, seven year old Jimmy was remembering the day on which he was told he had leukaemia. He remembered his mother's tears, his father's bewildered anger, the alien feeling of the hospital's environment. His mind replayed the nausea and the diarrhoea caused by radiation therapy and chemotherapy, his hair falling out and kids laughing at him... Jimmy died gently, utterly exhausted having lost so much blood. His tissue had broken down completely, and he was bleeding from every body opening. His bed looked like a battlefield."

Jimmy: Hiroshima atomic bomb victim

Why Nuclear Tests Are Carried Out?

A Nuclear Test is an experiment involving the setting off of a nuclear warhead ("nuke"). All throughout the twentieth century almost every nation has developed and often tested nuclear weapons. Conducting nuclear tests provide scientists and military forces with information about how nukes work (known as "Weapons Related" testing), as well as how the weapons behave under a range of different conditions. Various structures and buildings are also subjected to nuclear explosions (known as the "Weapons Effects" testing). Additionally, nuclear tests are conducted to show a countries strength, many tests are openly conduct and political in their intention. Most states and countries publicly conduct nuclear tests to show their nuclear status and power.

Nuclear weapons tests are generally classified as being either: "atmospheric" (in or above the atmosphere), "underground", or "underwater". Of the three, underground testing (conducted in deep shafts) poses the least health risk in terms of fallout. Atmospheric testing poses the highest risk, coming in contact with the ground and other materials.

There are several ways nuclear weapons are tested; they can be dropped of planes (an "air drop"), hoisted by balloons, on barges at sea, from tops of towers, attached to the bottom of a ship, and even shot into outer space by rockets ("high-altitude" nuclear testing)

What Countries Are Affected?

The first nuclear test was conducted by the United States, on July 16th, 1945, three weeks before the Hiroshima bombing on the 6th of August 1945. The nuclear test was given the codename "Trinity", tested on the "Trinity Site". The yield was 20 kilotons. The atomic test bomb was detonated to make sure that everything was working correctly. While the test gave scientists and military forces a good approximation of the bombs explosion effect, it did not give them a good idea of what the "nuclear fallout "(amount of radiation and hot particles) would be.

The largest nuclear bomb ever tested was the "Tsar Bomba" by the Soviet Union at Novaya Zemlya, with an estimated yield of 50 megatons. It was so powerful it was said that the shockwave produced went around the world three times.

The following table shows milestones in nuclear explosions:

Date Name Yeild (kt) Country Significance

Jul 16, 1945 Trinity 19 USA First fission weapon test

Aug 6, 1945 Little Boy 15 USA Bombing of Hiroshima, Japan

Aug 9, 1945 Fat man 21 USA Bombing of Nagasaki, Japan

Aug 29, 1949 Joe 1 22 USSR First fission weapon test by the USSR

Oct 3, 1952 Hurricane 25 UK First fission weapon test by the UK

Nov 1, 1952 Ivy Mike 10 200 USA First "staged" thermonuclear weapon test (not deployable)

Aug 12, 1953 Joe 4 400 USSR First fusion weapon test by the USSR (not "staged", but deployable)

Mar 1, 1954 Castle Bravo 15 000 USA First deployable "staged" thermonuclear weapon; fallout accident

Nov 22, 1955 RDS-37 1 600 USSR First "staged" thermonuclear weapon test by the USSR (deployable)

Nov 8, 1957 Grapple X 1 800 UK First (successful) "staged" thermonuclear weapon test by the UK

Feb 13, 1960 Gerboise Blue 60 France First fission weapon test by France

Oct 31, 1961 Tsar Bomba 57 000 USSR Largest thermonuclear weapon ever tested

Oct 16, 1964 596 22 China First fission weapon test by China

Jun 17, 1967 Test No.6 3 300 China First "staged" thermonuclear weapon test by China

Aug 24, 1968 Canopus 2 600 France First "staged" thermonuclear test by France

May 18, 1974 Smilling Buddah 12 India First fission "peaceful nuclear explosive" test by India

May 11, 1998 Shakti I 43 India First potential fusion/boosted weapon test by India (exact yields disputed, between 25kt and 45kt)

May 13, 1998 Shakti II 12 India First fission "weapon" test by India

May 28, 1998 Chagai-I 9 Pakistan First fission weapon test by Pakistan

Nuclear testing by country:

The nuclear nations have conducted approximately 2000 test explosions (numbers are approximated, as some test results have been disputed):

* United States: 1,050 tests (involving 1,125 devices), most at Nevada Test Site and the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Marshal Islands, with ten other tests took place at various locations in the United States, including Alaska, Colorado, Mississippi, and New Mexico.

* Soviet Union: between 715 and 969 tests, most at Semipalatinsk and Novaya Zemlya, and a few more at various sites in Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine.

* France: 210 tests, mostly at Reggane and Ekker in Algeria, Fangataufa and Moruroa in French Polynesia.

* United kingdom: 45 tests (21 in Australian territory,