Negotiations had largely responded to the international community’s grave concern over the radioactive fallout resulting from atmospheric tests. Nuclear weapon tests have been carried out in all environments: above ground, underground and underwater.Ītmospheric testing was banned by the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty. By accident, local civilians on the Marshall Islands, US servicemen stationed on Rongerik atoll, and the Japanese fishing trawler Lucky Dragon, were contaminated with the fallout. The Bravo test created the worst radiological disaster in the United States’ testing history. In March 1954, the United States tested its hydrogen bomb Castle Bravo in the Pacific’s Marshall Islands. International concern over radioactive fallout resulting from atmospheric tests escalated in the mid 1950s. Atmospheric testingĪtmospheric testing refers to explosions which take place in or above the atmosphere.Īll told, of the over 2,000 nuclear explosions detonated worldwide between 19, 25 % or over 500 bombs were exploded in the atmosphere: over 200 by the United States, over 200 by the Soviet Union, about 20 by Britain, about 50 by France and over 20 by China. Test bombs have been dropped by aircraft and fired by rockets up to 200 miles into the atmosphere. Bombs have been detonated on top of towers, onboard barges, suspended from balloons, on the earth's surface, underwater to depths of 600m, underground to depths of more than 2,400m and in horizontal tunnels. Nuclear explosions have been detonated in all environments: above ground, underground and underwater. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009, 2013, 2016, and 2017.Since the CTBT was opened for signature in September 1996, 10 nuclear tests have been conducted: France carried out 210 tests between 19.The United Kingdom carried out 45 tests between 19.The Soviet Union carried out 715 tests between 19.The United States conducted 1,032 tests between 19.In the five decades between that fateful day in 1945 and the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, over 2,000 nuclear tests were carried out all over the world. The history of nuclear testing began early on the morning of 16 July 1945 at a desert test site in Alamogordo, New Mexico when the United States exploded its first atomic bomb.

Atomic bomb heart for drawing