84 Worldwide nuclear explosions

Abstract

This chapter summarizes information on worldwide nuclear explosions extracted from the Center for Monitoring Research (CMR) database. The first nuclear test, Trinity, exploded near Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA, on 16 July 1945, marked the beginning of the nuclear weapons era. There is evidence that 2039 additional explosions were conducted by seven countries (China, France, India, Pakistan, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States) between 1945 and 1998, according to information in the Nuclear Explosion Database at the CMR. The CMR Nuclear Explosion Database contains comprehensive data relevant to nuclear monitoring research (e.g., origin time, location, and yield) on nuclear explosions worldwide. To ensure the completeness of information, data have been collected from a variety of sources, ranging from government announcements to media reports. The United States Department of Energy (NV209) listed all nuclear tests (e.g., date, location, yield range, and explosion type) conducted by the United States; these took place from July 1945 to September 1992. The Ministries for Atomic Energy and for Defense of the Russian Federation (RFAE) released official information (including date, location name, yield range, and explosion type) on all USSR nuclear weapons tests and peaceful nuclear explosions (PNEs) that took place from 1949 through 1990. For the Chinese events, there is no authoritative information on origin time and location. Around 32 of the 45 Chinese tests have been confirmed by an official publication of the Chinese government.