 |
|
| |
|
||||
A nuclear test explosion is an experiment involving the detonation of a nuclear weapon. Motivations for testing generally are broken into the categories:
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 (for the latter see below). 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:
Additionally, there may have been at least three alleged/disputed/unacknowledged nuclear explosions (see below).  Peter Kuran's documentary film Trinity and Beyond (1996) incorporates a good deal of footage from US, Soviet, and Chinese tests.
Known test series designationsUS 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.
Missing image RB-57_Juniper.jpg An RB-57 Canberra observes Operation Hardtacks's Juniper test.
USSRLast test: October 24, 1990. UK
Last test: November 26, 1991, vertical shaft. France
Last test: January 27, 1996, underground. ChinaLast test: July 29, 1996, underground. India
PakistanTests in response to the Indian tests:
See also http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Pakistan/PakTests.html Missing image Worldwide_nuclear_testing.png Graph of nuclear testing. Alleged testsThere have been a number of significant alleged/disputed/unacknowledged accounts of countries testing nuclear explosives. None are generally accepted as having occured by mainstream governments, news sources, or historians. JapanThere 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 AfricaIn 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. Knowledge of whether there was actually a test, much less who would have been responsible for it, is not fully known. See Vela Incident for more information. North KoreaOn 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. Nuclear tests with the nuclear warhead launched by a rocketMissiles and nuclear warheads have usually been tested separately. The only US live test of an operational missile was the following:
Other live tests with the nuclear explosive delivered by rocket by the USA include:
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. See also
External links
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright 2008 WordIQ.com - Privacy Policy
::
Terms of Use
:: Contact Us
:: About Us This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nuclear test". |