August 29th is the International Day against Nuclear Tests. The United Nations established the International Day against Nuclear Tests in 2009 to raise awareness and promote a world free from nuclear weapons.
On July 16, 1945, during World War II, the United States detonated the world’s first nuclear weapon, codenamed Trinity, over the New Mexico desert.
Two atomic bombs were dropped by the United States on Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, killing more than 100,000 people in less than a month.
Thousands more died from their injuries, radiation sickness and cancer in the years that followed, bringing the toll closer to 200,000, according to the US Department of Energy’s history of the Manhattan Project.
Each country has its own nuclear warheads
According to the Federation of American Scientists, nine countries had approximately 12,700 warheads by early 2022. According to the Federation of American Scientists, 90 percent of these warheads were owned by Russia (5.977 Warheads) and the US (5.428 Warheads).
The nuclear arms race was one of the most dangerous events of the Cold War, with nearly 65,000 nuclear warheads in total between the rivals at its peak in 1986.
While Russia and the US have decommissioned thousands of warheads from their arsenals, many countries are increasing their stockpiles, including China.
South Africa is the only country to have voluntarily surrendered nuclear weapons. The government stopped its nuclear weapons programme in 1989 and began dismantling its six nukes in 1990. South Africa joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, (NPT), in 1991 as a non-nuclear state.
Which countries have done nuclear tests?
According to Arms Control Association, at most eight countries have conducted 2,056 nuclear testing since 1945.
The US has conducted half all nuclear tests. 1,030 tests were conducted between 1945 and 1992. The US detonated its largest nuclear weapon, a 15-megatonne bomb, in 1954 on the Marshall Islands’ Bikini Atoll. This test was codenamed Castle Bravo. Scientists incorrectly calculated the power of nuclear testing. This caused radiation contamination that affected residents of the atolls. The nuclear fallout of the explosion is said to have spread over 18,130 square kilometres (7,000 square miles).
Between 1949 and 1990, the Soviet Union conducted 715 nuclear tests. The USSR’s first nuclear test was on August 29, 1949. The Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in Kazakhstan was the location of the test codenamed RDS-1. According to the CTBTO the Soviet Union conducted 456 test at the Semipalatinsk testing site. This had devastating effects on the local population including high cancer rates and genetic defects.
The Semipalatinsk testing site in Kazakhstan was closed on August 29, 1991. In 2009, the UN declared August 29 the International Day Against Nuclear Tests.
France has conducted 210 nuclear tests. China and the United Kingdom have each conducted 45.
India has conducted three nuclear tests and Pakistan two.
North Korea is the latest nation to conduct a nuclear test. It detonated its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb at the Punggye Ri nuclear test site in 2017. The underground explosion caused a magnitude-6.3 earthquake.
The largest nuclear explosions
The Soviet Union’s 1961 Tsar Bomba explosion on Novaya Zemlya, north of the Arctic Circle was the largest nuclear explosion. The explosion’s yield was 50 megatonnes, 3,300 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Other major nuclear explosions by different nations include China’s largest detonation in Lop Nur in 1976, the test had a yield of four megatonnes.
Operation Grapple was a series of nuclear testing in the South Pacific Ocean by the United Kingdom. It took place between November 1957 to September 1958. Grapple Y was the largest of the operation’s nuclear tests, with a yield of three megatonnes.
British Nuclear Veterans Association conducted a 1999 survey and found that more than 200 veterans had skeletal abnormalities. 30 percent of those men died, most often in their fifties.
1968 saw France conduct a series nuclear tests codenamed Canopus, at Fangataufa Atoll, in the South Pacific Ocean. The test yielded 2.6 megatonnes, and was 200 times more powerful that the Hiroshima bomb.
Sites for nuclear tests
All over the globe, nuclear weapons have been tested.
On February 13, 1960, France carried out its first nuclear test, codenamed Gerboise Bleue, over the Sahara desert in Algeria – which it was occupying at the time.
Other nuclear test locations include those in the United States, in New Mexico, Colorado, Colorado, and Mississippi.
Tests were conducted in Australia, China and India, Kazakhstan and North Korea, Russia and Pakistan.
In 1979, the US Vela satellite detected an atmosphere nuclear explosion over Prince Edward Island, Indian Ocean. Many believe that this was an unreported joint nuclear test between South Africa and Israel.
What is a nuclear testing?
Nuclear explosions can either be created underground or in the atmosphere.
A quarter of all nuclear test explosions were in the atmosphere. This caused radioactive materials to be spread through the air. Most nuclear tests are underground to limit radioactive material release.
Before a nuclear testing can be performed, it is important to find a suitable location and prepare it. The ground is dug into which the nuclear device will be placed.
To prevent radioactive material escaping, the hole is filled with gravel, sand, and other materials. Radiation monitors are activated, and aircraft circle the test area to check the device’s capabilities. Weather and fallout patterns are also reviewed.
The device explodes almost instantly, releasing energy that causes high temperatures and pressure. This causes the nuclear device to vaporise and the subterranean rock surrounding it.
The cavity formed where the detonation occurred. As the hot gases cool, molten rocks puddles at its bottom. After a while, the weight of the overburden causes the cavity roof to collapse and a rubble chimney extends to the surface, forming a subsidence crater – a bowl-shaped depression with a diameter of up to 600m (1969 feet) and a depth of up to 60m (197 feet).
After the test is conducted, the site remains guarded – samples and data are retrieved later.
Radiation levels and their impact
Radiation and radioactive fallout from nuclear testing can have both short-term and long-term consequences. Nuclear testing has been linked with an increase in the incidence of cancer. There have been studies that show that thyroid cancer may be linked with radionuclides.
Large areas of land are radioactive for many decades after a nuclear test.
Different levels of radiation can cause nausea, vomiting, and even death within days.
Radiation exposure is measured in roentgen equivalent man (rem) – a unit of radiation measurement applied to humans resulting from exposure to one or many types of ionising radiation.
Below is an infographic that shows the effects of radiation on the human body.
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