List of nuclear weapons tests

• single nuclear devices fired in deep horizontal tunnels or in vertical shafts, in shallow shafts, underwater, on barges or vessels on the water, on land, in towers, carried by balloons, shot from cannons, dropped from airplanes with or without parachutes, and shot into a ballistic trajectory, into high atmosphere or into near space on rockets. Since 1963 the great majority have been underground due to the Partial Test Ban Treaty.
• Salvo tests in which several devices are fired simultaneously, as defined by international treaties:
• The two nuclear bombs dropped in combat over Japan in 1945. While the primary purpose of these two detonations was military and not experimental, observations were made and the tables would be incomplete without them.
• Nuclear safety tests in which the intended nuclear yield was intended to be zero, and which failed to some extent if a nuclear yield was detected. There have been failures, and therefore they are included in the lists, as well as the successes.
• Fizzles, in which the expected yield was not reached.
• Tests intended but not completed because of vehicle or other support failures that destroyed the device.
• Tests that were emplaced and could not be fired for various reasons. Usually, the devices were ultimately destroyed by later conventional or nuclear explosions.

• Misfires which were corrected and later fired as intended.
• Hydro-nuclear or Subcritical testing in which the normal fuel material for a nuclear device is below the amount necessary to sustain a chain reaction. The line here is finely drawn, but, among other things, subcritical testing is not prohibited by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, while safety tests are.

  Totals by country

Known tests

U.S.

• The Trinity test on 16 July 1945, near Socorro, New Mexico, was the first-ever test of a nuclear weapon.
• The Operation Crossroads series in July 1946, at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, was the first postwar test series and one of the largest military operations in U.S. history.
• The Operation Greenhouse shots of May 1951, at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands, included the first boosted fission weapon test and a scientific test which proved the feasibility of thermonuclear weapons.
• The Ivy Mike shot of 1 November 1952, at Enewetak Atoll, was the first full test of a Teller-Ulam design "staged" hydrogen bomb, with a yield of 10 megatons. This was not a deployable weapon. With its full cryogenic equipment it weighed about 82 tons.
• The Castle Bravo shot of 1 March 1954, at Bikini Atoll, was the first test of a deployable thermonuclear weapon, and also the largest weapon ever tested by the United States. It was also the single largest U.S. radiological accident in connection with nuclear testing. The unanticipated yield, and a change in the weather, resulted in nuclear fallout spreading eastward onto the inhabited Rongelap and Rongerik atolls, which were soon evacuated. Many of the Marshall Islands natives have since suffered from birth defects and have received some compensation from the federal government of the United States. A Japanese fishing boat, the Daigo Fukuryū Maru, also came into contact with the fallout, which caused many of the crew to grow ill; one eventually died. The crew's exposure was referenced in the film Godzilla as a criticism of American nuclear tests in the Pacific.
• The Operation Plumbob series of May - October 1957 is considered the biggest, longest, and most controversial test series that occurred within the continental United States. Rainier Mesa, Frenchman Flat, and Yucca Flat were all used for the 29 different atmospheric explosions.
• Shot Argus I of Operation Argus, on 27 August 1958, was the first detonation of a nuclear weapon in outer space when a 1.7-kiloton warhead was detonated at 200 kilometers altitude over the South Atlantic Ocean during a series of high-altitude nuclear explosions.
• Shot Frigate Bird of Operation Dominic on 6 May 1962, was the only U.S. test of an operational ballistic missile with a live nuclear warhead, at Johnston Atoll in the Pacific. In general, missile systems were tested without live warheads and warheads were tested separately for safety concerns. In the early 1960s there were mounting questions about how the systems would behave under combat conditions, and this test was meant to dispel these concerns. However, the warhead had to be somewhat modified before its use, and the missile was only a SLBM, so by itself, it did not satisfy all concerns.
• Shot Sedan of Operation Storax on 6 July 1962, was an attempt at showing the feasibility of using nuclear weapons for civilian, peaceful purposes as part of Operation Plowshare. In this instance, a 1280-feet-in-diameter and 320-feet-deep explosion crater, morphologically similar to an impact crater, was created at the Nevada Test Site.
• Shot Divider of Operation Julin on 23 September 1992, at the Nevada Test Site, was the last U.S. nuclear test. Described as a "test to ensure safety of deterrent forces", the series was interrupted by the beginning of negotiations over the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

  Soviet Union

• Operation First Lightning/RDS-1, August 29, 1949: first Soviet nuclear test.
• RDS-6s, August 12, 1953: first Soviet thermonuclear test using a sloka design. The design proved to be unscalable into megaton yields, but it was air-deployable.
• RDS-37, November 22, 1955: first Soviet multi-megaton, "true" hydrogen bomb test using Andrei Sakharov's "third idea", essentially a re-invention of the Teller-Ulam.
• Tsar Bomba, October 30, 1961: largest nuclear weapon ever detonated, with a design yield of 100 Mt, de-rated to 50 Mt for the test drop.
• Chagan, January 15, 1965: large cratering experiment as part of Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy program, which created an artificial lake.

United Kingdom

• Operation Hurricane, October 3, 1952
• Operation Totem, 1953
• Operation Mosaic, 1956
• Operation Buffalo, 1956
• Operation Antler, 1957
• Operation Grapple, 1957–1958

• Operation Kittens, 1953–1961
• Operation Rats, 1956–1960
• Operation Tims, 1955–1963
• Operation Vixen, 1959–1963

  France

• Operation Gerboise bleue, February 13, 1960 and three more: Reggane, Algeria; in the atmosphere; final test reputed to be more intended to prevent the weapon from falling into the hands of generals rebelling against French colonial rule than for testing purposes.
• Operation Agathe, November 7, 1961 and 12 more: In Ekker, Algeria; underground
• Operation Aldébaran, July 2, 1966 and 45 more: Moruroa and Fangataufa; in the atmosphere;
• * Canopus first hydrogen bomb: August 28, 1968
• Operation Achille June 5, 1975 and 146 more: Moruroa and Fangataufa; underground
• * Operation Xouthos last test: January 27, 1996

  China

• 596 First test – October 16, 1964
• Film is now available of 1966 tests here at time 09:00 and another test later in this film.
• Test No. 6, First hydrogen bomb test – June 17, 1967
• CHIC-16, 200 kt-1 Mt atmospheric test – June 17, 1974
• #21, Largest hydrogen bomb tested by China - November 17, 1976
• #29, Last atmospheric test – October 16, 1980. This would also be the last atmospheric nuclear test by any country
• #45, Last test – July 29, 1996, underground.

  India

• May 18, 1974: Operation Smiling Buddha. One underground test in a horizontal shaft around 107 m long under the long-constructed Indian Army Pokhran Test Range in the Thar Desert, eastern border of Pakistan. The Indian Meteorological Department and the Atomic Energy Commission announced the yield of the weapon at 12 kt. Other Western sources claimed the yield to be around 2–12 kt. However, the claim was dismissed by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and it was later reported to be 8 kt.
• May 11, 1998: Operation Shakti. The Atomic Energy Commission of India and the Defence Research and Development Organisation simultaneously conducted a test of three nuclear devices at the Indian Army Pokhran Test Range on May 11, 1998. Two days later, on May 13, the AEC and DRDO carried out a test of two further nuclear devices, detonated simultaneously. During this operation, AEC India claimed to have tested a three-stage thermonuclear device, but the yield of the tests was significantly lower than that expected from thermonuclear devices. The yields remain questionable, at best, by Western and Indian scholars, estimated at 20kt-45kt.

  Pakistan

• March 11, 1983: Kirana-I. The 24 underground cold tests of nuclear devices were performed near the Sargodha Air Force Base.
• May 28, 1998: Chagai-I. One underground horizontal-shaft tunnel test of boosted fission devices at Koh Kambaran in the Ras Koh Hills in Chagai District of Balochistan Province. The announced yield of the five devices was a total of 40–45 kilotonnes with the largest having a yield of approximately 30–45 kilotonnes. An independent assessment however put the test yield at no more than 12 kt and the maximum yield of a single device at only 9 kt as opposed to 35 kt as claimed by Pakistani authorities. According to The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the maximum yield was only 2–10 kt as opposed to the claim of 35 kt and the total yield of all tests was no more than 8–15 kt.
• May 30, 1998: Chagai-II. One underground vertical-shaft tunnel test of a miniaturized fission device having an announced yield of approximately 18–20 kilotonnes, carried out in the Kharan Desert in Kharan District, Balochistan Province. An independent assessment put the figure of this test at 4–6 kt only. Some Western seismologists put the figure at a mere 2 kt.

  North Korea

Alleged tests

China

Germany

Israel

North Korea

Pakistan

Russia

Vela Incident

Tests of live warheads on rockets

• Frigate Bird: on May 6, 1962, a UGM-27 Polaris A-2 missile with a live 600 kt W47 warhead was launched from the USS Ethan Allen; it flew, re-entered the atmosphere, and detonated at an altitude of over the South Pacific.

• The July 19, 1957 test Plumbbob/John fired a small yield nuclear weapon on an AIR-2 Genie air-to-air rocket from a jet fighter.
• On August 1, 1958, Redstone rocket launched nuclear test Teak that detonated at an altitude of. On August 12, 1958, Redstone #CC51 launched nuclear test Orange to a detonation altitude of. Both were part of Operation Hardtack I and had a yield of 3.75 Mt
• Operation Argus: three tests above the South Atlantic Ocean, August 27, August 30, and September 6, 1958
• On July 9, 1962, Thor missile launched a Mk4 reentry vehicle containing a W49 thermonuclear warhead to an altitude of 248 miles. The warhead detonated with a yield of 1.45 Mt. This was the Starfish Prime event of nuclear test operation Dominic-Fishbowl
• In the Dominic-Fishbowl series in 1962: Checkmate, Bluegill, Kingfish and Tightrope

• Test of the M65 atomic cannon using the W33 artillery shell during the Upshot-Knothole Grable test on May 25, 1953.
• Test of the Davy Crockett recoilless gun during Little Feller I test on July 17, 1962.

• Test of the RUR-5 ASROC during the Dominic-Swordfish test on May 11, 1962.

• Baikal – one test, with a R-5M rocket launch from Kapustin Yar; fizzled.
• ZUR-215 – one test, with a rocket launch from Kapustin Yar.
• two tests, done after declared cease-fire for test moratorium negotiations, from Kapustin Yar.
• Groza – one test, with a rocket launch from Kapustin Yar.
• Grom – one test, with a rocket launch from Kapustin Yar.
• Volga – two tests, with R-11M rockets launch from Rogachevo.
• Roza – two tests, with R-12 rockets launch from Vorkuta.
• Raduga – one test, with a R-13 rocket launch.
• Tyulpan – one test, with R-14 rockets launched from Chita.
• Operation K – five tests, at high altitude, with rockets launched from Kapustin Yar.

• Test of the T-5 torpedo on September 21, 1955 at Novaya Zemlya.
• Test of the T-5 torpedo on October 10, 1957 at Novaya Zemlya.
• Test of the T-5 torpedo on October 23, 1961 at Novaya Zemlya.

Most powerful tests