CATALOG OF WORLDWIDE NUCLEAR TESTING

INTRODUCTION

The present book is a crucial step toward the uniform classification of nuclear tests that have been conducted by the five nuclear-weapon states ( U.S. , USSR , UK , France , and China ) from 1945 to 1996. The book also includes the basic information about nuclear explosions in India and Pakistan . Being an element of the process of nuclear weapons development, nuclear tests demonstrate their unprecedented power and thus express the achievements of all nuclear weapon technologies. During the sharp opposition of two social systems in the second half of XX century the nuclear weapons were a key element of the system of balance of forces, which allowed the Third World War to be avoided.

On August 29, 1999 fifty years will pass from the first Soviet test of a nuclear weapon, and we hope that this book will contribute to an objective understanding of large-scale military and technological activities in the field of nuclear testing. In 1996, the list of all nuclear tests and peaceful nuclear explosions conducted by the USSR was published as a result of the efforts of experts of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation . The official publication USSR Nuclear Weapons Tests and Peaceful Nuclear Explosions. 1949 through 1990 was published by the Russian Federal Nuclear Center - All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC-VNIIEF) in Sarov (former Arzamas-16) and its issuance was connected with preparation to the Moscow Summit on nuclear safety in April 1996.

English translation of the above book was carried out by RFNC-VNIIEF and published a short time later. In 1997, the new publication USSR Nuclear Tests. Hydronuclear Experiments. Plutonium Inventory, which contained the additional data, appeared in Russian and English. The materials from these books, which have already become a bibliographic rarity, have been included in the present book, in which the unique attempt was made to systematize and present in a comparative manner the results of nuclear testing programs for all nuclear-weapon states.

Nuclear testing started with the first explosion carried out by the United States on July 16, 1945 in Alomogordo , New Mexico , and stopped on July 29, 1996 with the last (2049th) nuclear test conducted by the People's Republic of China at Lop Nur test site.

Some key parameters of the nuclear testing programs are given in Table 1. These programs have both basic common features arising from the similarity of tasks to be solved, and a number of distinctions arising from the differences in the national approaches. All this has found, in our opinion, an objective and, whenever possible, a rather complete reflection in the Unified Catalog.

In the two months after the last nuclear test, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was signed on September 24, 1996. All the five nuclear-weapon states became the signatories of the treaty.

In should be noted that in addition to the specified nuclear tests, some nuclear explosions were carried out by India (1974, 1998) and Pakistan (1998). The information on these nuclear explosions is given in a separate section of this book.

Although the overwhelming majority of nuclear tests was conducted by the United States and the Soviet Union, a significant number of nuclear tests (302) was carried out by Great Britain , France , and China , and the participation of these countries in nuclear testing has essentially expanded its geography.

Each nuclear-weapon state (except for Great Britain ) began the program of nuclear testing from a surface nuclear explosion, in which the tested device was placed on a special tower. Great Britain conducted the first nuclear test as a water-surface explosion, and the nuclear device was placed inside a ship. Each nuclear state had specially equipped nuclear sites for nuclear testing, and the best known among them are:

• Nevada test site, USA (904 nuclear tests on behalf of the U.S. nuclear program and 24 nuclear tests on behalf of the nuclear program of Great Britain )

• Semipalatinsk test site, USSR (456 nuclear tests)

• Novaya Zemlya test site, USSR (130 nuclear tests)

• Test range on atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa , France (193 nuclear tests)

• Lop Nur test site, People's Republic of China (47 nuclear tests)

About 85 percent of all nuclear tests took place at the above test sites, although many, including the very important nuclear tests, were conducted outside their boundaries.

Originally, the testing program of each nuclear-weapon state included atmospheric nuclear tests of various types. Then, underground nuclear tests appeared which gradually or abruptly replaced the atmospheric tests. The extremely important role in this process was played by the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) originally signed by the Soviet Union, the United States , and Great Britain . The treaty prohibits nuclear explosions by the signatories in the atmosphere, space, and underwater. An essential role in restricting of nuclear testing was also played by the bilateral Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT) of 1974. The treaty was signed by the Soviet Union and the United States , and it sets a limit on the size of underground nuclear weapons tests.

For underground nuclear explosions the special technology of salvo nuclear tests was developed, when two or more nuclear devices were simultaneously detonated within one nuclear test. This technology represented an essential step forward in comparison with testing of individual nuclear devices because it allowed to intensify testing activities, even if its realization required some increase in the complexity of the experiments. This approach was advanced both in the USSR, and in the U.S., but was more widely practiced in the USSR, apparently due to the more severe weather conditions at the nuclear sites and lower financial and material capabilities. The Soviet Union conducted 146 salvo nuclear tests in which 400 nuclear devices were detonated, while the United States conducted 63 salvo nuclear tests in which 158 nuclear devices were detonated.

A number of stages determined by various political and technological reasons may be distinguished within the nuclear testing programs of each nuclear-weapon state. It is interesting to consider briefly this question, using as examples the Soviet Union and the United States , the two principal rivals in the nuclear arms race.

From 1949 to 1990 the USSR conducted 715 nuclear tests and peaceful nuclear explosions. A number of stages may be distinguished within this time period.

Stage I, from August 29, 1949, to November 3, 1958, began with the test of the first USSR atomic bomb and ended with the commencement of the 1958 bilateral moratorium on nuclear testing.

Stage II, from September 1, 1961, to December 25, 1962, began in connection with the USSR leaving the moratorium (because of aggravation of the military and political situation) and ended when the USSR stopped atmospheric nuclear testing.

Stage III, from March 15, 1964, to December 25, 1975, began with realization of the USSR nuclear testing program in the context of the Limited Test Ban Treaty (USSR, U.S., UK) and ended when the USSR discontinued nuclear explosions with an energy release exceeding the threshold value of 150 kt (kilotons), in compliance with the Threshold Test Ban Treaty which was signed in 1974 and put in force in 1976.

Stage IV, from January 15, 1976, to July 25, 1985, began with realization of the USSR nuclear testing program in the context of the Threshold Test Ban Treaty and ended with the unilateral announcement of a nuclear test moratorium by the USSR.

Stage V, from February 26, 1987, to October 24, 1990 (with a break between October 19, 1989, and October 24, 1990), constitutes activities in the context of M. S. Gorbachev's course to the discontinuance of nuclear testing by the USSR.

Stages I and II may be integrated into a single stage, conventionally referred to as the period of atmospheric nuclear tests, and Stages III, IV, and V into a second stage, i.e., the stage of USSR underground tests.

Table 2 gives the distribution of the total number and total yield of USSR nuclear tests during the stages under consideration.

The total energy release of the USSR nuclear tests was 285.4 Mt, including 247.2 Mt during the atmospheric nuclear testing period and 38 Mt during the underground nuclear testing period.

It is interesting to compare these characteristics with similar characteristics of the U.S. nuclear testing program. From 1945 to 1992 the United States conducted 1032 nuclear tests and peaceful nuclear explosions, which can also be divided into a number of stages.

Stage I, from July 16, 1945, to May 14, 1948, began with the test of the first U.S. atomic bomb and ended for internal reasons.

Stage II, from January 27, 1951, to October 30, 1958, began with the first test at the Nevada test site and ended with the United States entering into the 1958 bilateral moratorium.

Stage III, from September 15, 1961, to June 25, 1963, began with the resumption of nuclear testing by the United States because of the Russian testing and due to the military and political situation in the world, the stage ended when the United States stopped atmospheric nuclear testing.

Stage IV, from August 12, 1963, to March 17, 1976, began in the context of the Limited Test Ban Treaty and ended with the enforcing of the Threshold

Test Ban Treaty.

Stage V, from May 12, 1976, to September 23, 1992, began in the context of the Threshold Test Ban Treaty and ended when the United States stopped

nuclear testing.

Stages I, II, and III may be integrated into a single stage referred to as the stage of atmospheric nuclear testing (although the bulk of the U.S. tests at that time were conducted underground), and Stages IV and V may be integrated into the stage of underground nuclear testing.

Table 3 gives the distribution of the total number and total yield of U.S. nuclear tests during these stages. When estimating these characteristics the authors used the U.S. official and review materials.

The total yield of the U.S. nuclear tests is estimated at 189.4 Mt, including 155.1 Mt during the atmospheric nuclear testing period and 34.3 Mt during the underground nuclear testing period.

From a comparison of the general characteristics of the USSR and U.S. nuclear tests the following trends can be discerned:

• The USSR conducted 1.47 times fewer nuclear tests than the United States , while the total energy release of the USSR nuclear tests was 1.5 times higher than that of the U.S. nuclear tests.

• During the atmospheric nuclear test period the USSR conducted 1.5 times fewer nuclear tests than the United States , while the total yield of the USSR nuclear tests was 1.6 times higher than that of the U.S. nuclear tests during that period.

• During the underground nuclear test period the USSR conducted 1.46 times fewer nuclear tests than the United States at about equal total yield for both countries.

The maximum intensity of USSR nuclear testing during the atmospheric nuclear test period occurred in 1962 (79 tests); the maximum intensity of U.S. nuclear testing during the same period came in 1962 (98 tests). The maximum annual energy release of the USSR nuclear tests came in 1962 (133.8 Mt), while that of the United States occurred in 1954 (48.2 Mt).

From 1963 to 1976 the maximum intensity of USSR nuclear testing was 24 tests, in 1972; that of the United States was 56 tests, in 1968. During that period the maximum annual energy release of the USSR nuclear tests was 8.17 Mt (1973); that of the United States was 5.45 Mt (1971).

From 1977 to 1992 the maximum intensity of USSR nuclear testing was 31 tests (1978, 1979); that of the United States was 21 tests (1978). During that period the maximum annual energy release of the USSR nuclear tests was 1.41 Mt(1979); that of the U.S. tests was 0.77 Mt(1982).

From the above characteristics of nuclear testing dynamics, one can infer the following:

• Every new stage of nuclear testing (1949, 1963) was entered by the USSR with a delay in testing technology development relative to the United States .

• In 1962 the lag of the Soviet Union behind the United States in the capabilities needed to conduct atmospheric nuclear tests was eliminated; at a close total number of tests (79 by the USSR, 98 by the United States) the total yield of the USSR nuclear explosions was about 3.6 times higher than that of the U.S. nuclear explosions during that year.

• From 1964 to 1965 the number of USSR nuclear tests was 3.7 times fewer than that of the United States, while the total energy release of the USSR nuclear explosions was 4.7 times lower than that of the U.S. nuclear explosions. From 1971 to 1975 the average annual number of nuclear tests conducted by the USSR and the United States was already close (20.8 and 23.8 tests, respectively), while the total energy release of the USSR nuclear tests was 2.1 times higher than that of the United States .

• From 1977 to 1984 the average annual number of USSR nuclear tests was 25.4 as compared to 18.6 for the United States (i.e., 1.35 times higher); during that period the average annual energy release of the USSR nuclear tests was 0.92 Mt per year as compared to 0.46 Mt per year for the U.S. tests (i.e., about 2 times higher).

Thus, we can speak about elimination of the lag and realization of certain advantages in USSR nuclear testing as compared to U.S. nuclear testing in 1962, in 1971-1975, and in 1977-1984. Development of this success was hindered in 1963 by the Limited Test Ban Treaty, after 1975 by the Threshold Test Ban Treaty, and after 1984 by M. S. Gorbachev's policy.

When comparing the USSR and U.S. test programs, it is interesting to speak separately of the peaceful nuclear explosions. The U.S. program of peaceful nuclear explosions, known as the Program Plowshare, was conducted from 1961 to 1973 and numbered 27 experiments. From 1964 to 1988 the USSR conducted a total of 124 industrial nuclear explosions and 32 nuclear tests for the development and improvement of industrial nuclear devices.

The nuclear tests played a paramount role at the early stages of nuclear weapons creation, however their importance in the technology of nuclear weapons development has been considerable until the present time. It is possible to say that the conduct of a nuclear test was synonymous with the development of a nuclear weapon. During nuclear tests various tasks were fulfilled regarding nuclear weapons development and modernization, research of the range of nuclear weapons effects, safety of nuclear weapons, development of nuclear testing technologies.

Nuclear testing has turned from a set of individual, though very important experiments into regular activity, which required the creation of an entire organizational system. In essence, it was the branch of technological activity in which fundamental transformations, considerably changing its shape, took place over a period of 50 years.

This book consists of the Unified Catalog, which chronologically lists and comments on the 2049 known nuclear tests conducted by five nuclear-weapon states. It is possible to assert that this catalogue includes all USSR and U.S. nuclear tests because open official sources are available for these states. For Great Britain , France , and China it cannot be stated with complete reliability because there are no similar open official data for their nuclear testing programs. At the same time, if some additional information appears it may require only minor modifications, which can will distort the total picture.

The Unified Catalog is complemented by comments where the tests are summarized by various characteristics. The comments allow the reader to estimate the importance of various aspects of nuclear testing for different nuclear-weapon states.