Nuclear Testing
Essay Preview: Nuclear Testing
Report this essay
Nuclear Testing
Intro
“In the dim light of a hospital room, seven year old Jimmy was remembering the day on which he was told he had leukaemia. He remembered his mothers tears, his fathers bewildered anger, the alien feeling of the hospitals environment. His mind replayed the nausea and the diarrhoea caused by radiation therapy and chemotherapy, his hair falling out and kids laughing at him Jimmy died gently, utterly exhausted having lost so much blood. His tissue had broken down completely, and he was bleeding from every body opening. His bed looked like a battlefield.”
Jimmy: Hiroshima atomic bomb victim
Why Nuclear Tests Are Carried Out?
A Nuclear Test is an experiment involving the setting off of a nuclear warhead (“nuke”). All throughout the twentieth century almost every nation has developed and often tested nuclear weapons. Conducting nuclear tests provide scientists and military forces with information about how nukes work (known as “Weapons Related” testing), as well as how the weapons behave under a range of different conditions. Various structures and buildings are also subjected to nuclear explosions (known as the “Weapons Effects” testing). Additionally, nuclear tests are conducted to show a countries strength, many tests are openly conduct and political in their intention. Most states and countries publicly conduct nuclear tests to show their nuclear status and power.
Nuclear weapons tests are generally classified as being either: “atmospheric” (in or above the atmosphere), “underground”, or “underwater”. Of the three, underground testing (conducted in deep shafts) poses the least health risk in terms of fallout. Atmospheric testing poses the highest risk, coming in contact with the ground and other materials.
There are several ways nuclear weapons are tested; they can be dropped of planes (an “air drop”), hoisted by balloons, on barges at sea, from tops of towers, attached to the bottom of a ship, and even shot into outer space by rockets (“high-altitude” nuclear testing)
What Countries Are Affected?
The first nuclear test was conducted by the United States, on July 16th, 1945, three weeks before the Hiroshima bombing on the 6th of August 1945. The nuclear test was given the codename “Trinity”, tested on the “Trinity Site”. The yield was 20 kilotons. The atomic test bomb was detonated to make sure that everything was working correctly. While the test gave scientists and military forces a good approximation of the bombs explosion effect, it did not give them a good idea of what the “nuclear fallout “(amount of radiation and hot particles) would be.
The largest nuclear bomb ever tested was the “Tsar Bomba” by the Soviet Union at Novaya Zemlya, with an estimated yield of 50 megatons. It was so powerful it was said that the shockwave produced went around the world three times.
The following table shows milestones in nuclear explosions:
Yeild (kt)
Country
Significance
Jul 16, 1945
Trinity
First fission weapon test
Aug 6, 1945
Little Boy
Bombing of Hiroshima, Japan
Aug 9, 1945
Fat man
Bombing of Nagasaki, Japan
Aug 29, 1949
Joe 1
First fission weapon test by the USSR
Oct 3, 1952
Hurricane
First fission weapon test by the UK
Nov 1, 1952
Ivy Mike
10 200
First “staged” thermonuclear weapon test (not deployable)
Aug 12, 1953
Joe 4
First fusion weapon test by the USSR (not “staged”, but deployable)
Mar 1, 1954
Castle Bravo
15 000
First deployable “staged” thermonuclear weapon; fallout accident
Nov 22, 1955
RDS-37
1 600
First “staged” thermonuclear weapon test by the USSR (deployable)
Nov 8, 1957
Grapple X
1 800
First (successful) “staged” thermonuclear weapon test by the UK
Feb 13, 1960
Gerboise Blue
France
First fission weapon test by France
Oct 31, 1961
Tsar Bomba
57 000
Largest thermonuclear weapon ever tested
Oct 16, 1964
China
First fission weapon test by China
Jun 17, 1967
Test No.6
3 300
China
First “staged” thermonuclear weapon test by China
Aug 24, 1968
Canopus
2 600
France
First “staged” thermonuclear test by France
May 18, 1974
Smilling Buddah
India
First fission “peaceful nuclear explosive” test by India
May 11, 1998
Shakti I
India
First potential fusion/boosted weapon test by India (exact yields disputed, between 25kt and 45kt)
May 13, 1998
Shakti II
India
First fission “weapon” test by India
May 28, 1998
Chagai-I
Pakistan
First fission weapon test by Pakistan
Nuclear testing by country:
The nuclear nations have conducted approximately 2000 test explosions (numbers are approximated, as some test results have been disputed):
United States: 1,050 tests (involving 1,125 devices), most at Nevada Test Site and the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Marshal Islands, with ten other tests took place at various locations in the United States, including Alaska, Colorado, Mississippi, and New Mexico.
Soviet Union: between 715 and 969 tests, most at Semipalatinsk and Novaya Zemlya, and a few more at various sites in Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine.
France: 210 tests, mostly at Reggane and Ekker in Algeria, Fangataufa and Moruroa in French Polynesia.
United kingdom: 45 tests (21 in Australian territory,