List of nuclear weapons tests in the context of "Chagai-II"

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⭐ Core Definition: List of nuclear weapons tests

Nuclear weapons testing is the act of experimentally and deliberately firing one or more nuclear devices in a controlled manner pursuant to a military, scientific or technological goal. This has been done on test sites on land or waters owned, controlled or leased from the owners by one of the eight nuclear nations: the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea, or has been done on or over ocean sites far from territorial waters. There have been 2,121 tests done since the first in July 1945, involving 2,476 nuclear devices. As of 1993, worldwide, 520 atmospheric nuclear explosions (including eight underwater) have been conducted with a total yield of 545 megatons (Mt): 217 Mt from pure fission and 328 Mt from bombs using fusion, while the estimated number of underground nuclear tests conducted in the period from 1957 to 1992 is 1,352 explosions with a total yield of 90 Mt. As a result of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, there were no declared tests between the 1998 Pakistani Chagai-II and the 2006 North Korean test, and none outside North Korea to date.

Very few unknown tests are suspected at this time, the Vela incident being the most prominent. Israel is the only country suspected of having nuclear weapons but not confirmed to have ever tested any.

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List of nuclear weapons tests in the context of Nuclear weapons testing

Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the performance of nuclear weapons and the effects of their explosion. Over 2,000 nuclear weapons tests have been carried out since 1945. Nuclear testing is a sensitive political issue. Governments have often performed tests to signal strength. Because of their destruction and fallout, testing has seen opposition by civilians as well as governments, with international bans having been agreed on. Thousands of tests have been performed, with most in the second half of the 20th century.

The first nuclear device was detonated as a test by the United States at the Trinity site in New Mexico on July 16, 1945, with a yield approximately equivalent to 20 kilotons of TNT. The first thermonuclear weapon technology test of an engineered device, codenamed Ivy Mike, was tested at the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands on November 1, 1952 (local date), also by the United States. The largest nuclear weapon ever tested was the Tsar Bomba of the Soviet Union at Novaya Zemlya on October 30, 1961, with the largest yield ever seen, an estimated 50–58 megatons.

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Nuclear weapons testing → List of nuclear test sites → United States and weapons of mass destruction → Russia and weapons of mass destruction → The United Kingdom and weapons of mass destruction → France and weapons of mass destruction → China and weapons of mass destruction → India and weapons of mass destruction → Pakistan and weapons of mass destruction → North Korea and weapons of mass destruction → Territorial waters → TNT equivalent → Nuclear fission → Nuclear fusion → Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty → Chagai-II → 2006 North Korean nuclear test → Vela incident → Israel and weapons of mass destruction →