Nuclear Testing Index, August 29, 2012


Nuclear Testing Index, August 29, 2012

2,045: Total number of nuclear weapons tests before the CTBT was opened for signature in September 1996.

9.14 days: Average time between nuclear blasts.

7: Total number of nuclear weapons test explosions after the CTBT was opened for signature in September 1996.

831.4 days: Average time between nuclear blasts.

1,054: Total number of U.S. nuclear weapons tests, involving 1,148 detonations.

928: Number of nuclear weapons tests conducted in Nevada.

15 megatons: Total yield of the largest U.S. explosion, codenamed Bravo.

715: Total number of Soviet/Russian nuclear weapons test explosions.

456: Number of nuclear weapons tests conducted in Kazakhstan.

50 megatons: Approximate total yield of the Soviet Union’s Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear explosion to ever take place.

210: Number of nuclear tests carried out by France.

45: Number of nuclear tests carried out by the United Kingdom.

45: Number of nuclear tests carried out by China.

3: Total number of nuclear tests conducted by India.

2: Total number of nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan.

2: Total number of nuclear tests conducted by North Korea.

2: Total number of nuclear tests conducted by the United States in the state of Mississippi.

179: Number of nuclear tests carried out in 1962 alone (by the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, and France).

50: Number of days between the signature of the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) and U.S. ratification.

1,243: Number of days since President Barack Obama declared “To achieve a global ban on nuclear testing, my Administration will immediately and aggressively pursue U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.”

5,819: Number of days since the United States signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

183: Number of countries that have signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

157: Number of countries that have ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

8: Number of states listed in Annex II that must still ratify to bring the treaty into force.

25%  of the 337 International Monitoring System (IMS) facilities to verify compliance with the CTBT were in place in 1999.

90%  of the 337 International Monitoring System (IMS) facilities to verify compliance with the CTBT were in place by 2010.

$5.3 billion: Total funding requested for weapons activities/maintenance for U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in fiscal 1999 (in 2010 dollars).

$7.6 billion: Total funding requested for weapons activities/maintenance for U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in fiscal 2013 (in 2010 dollars).

Sources: Arms Control Association; The Brookings Institution; U.S. Department of Energy; CTBT Organization; U.S. Department of State; United Nations.