I Show Every Nuclear Explosion That Has Happened Since 1945 (10 Pics)
On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb exploded in the New Mexico desert and changed history forever. In a flash, the world entered the nuclear war age. In the 74 years since that first test, there have been more than two thousand nuclear explosions around the world, carried out by eight countries. It can be hard to get a sense of the global scale and impact that these explosions have had. To get a better idea, I made a series of interesting maps that show every explosion as a point of light illuminating a 3D landscape, with each color representing a different country.
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The World
Looking at a world map, we can see the global scale of nuclear testing with explosions occurring on every continent except for South America and Antarctica. The vast majority of nuclear tests were carried out by just two countries: the United States and the USSR. To get a better idea of where these tests were carried out, we need to take a closer look at some of the brightest parts of the explosion map.
Nevada Test Site, United States
The site of the largest number of nuclear explosions on Earth was the Nevada Test Site in the southwestern United States around 130 km (80 mi) from Las Vegas. A total of 928 tests occurred there from 1951-1992. Even though the site was located in the desert, the effects of the tests were felt far away. Tourists in Las Vegas could see mushroom clouds rising over the desert from their hotel rooms.
In 1962, the Sedan test produced an enormous cloud of high-radiation dust that was carried by the wind across the United States and resulted in increased levels of radioactivity as far away as Chicago. On the map, you can also see the 24 British tests that were carried out at the Nevada Test Site in cooperation with the United States.
Pacific Proving Ground, Marshall Islands
Some nuclear tests were too large and too dangerous to be performed at the Nevada Test Site. Instead, they were done in the Pacific Proving Ground in the Marshall Islands, an American territory in the South Pacific. The US carried out 106 tests here spread across several atolls (small island chains). These tests included the first hydrogen bomb tests and Castle Bravo, the largest nuclear bomb ever tested by the United States with a yield of 15 megatons, 1000 times larger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Some of these tests released radioactive fallout on the people who lived around the islands and fishing boats working in the area causing health problems that are still felt today.
Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakhstan
The largest Soviet test site was Semipalatinsk, code-named ‘The Polygon’, in present-day Kazakhstan. 456 tests occurred here starting with the USSR’s first nuclear weapon in 1949 and continuing until 1991 when the Soviet Union broke apart and Kazakhstan became independent.
Today, the Semipalatinsk Test Site is used by scientists studying the long term effects of nuclear weapons and is even open to the public for tours.
Novaya Zemlya Test Site, Russia
The USSR’s secondary test site was located on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. 224 tests occurred here including the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated, the Tsar Bomba, with a yield of 50 megatons, more than three times as powerful as the largest American bomb and 3000 times as powerful as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
French Polynesia
It might surprise you to learn that after the United States and the USSR, the country responsible for the most nuclear explosions is France. France tested 217 nuclear devices between 1960 and 1996. Most of these tests were carried out in French Polynesia in the South Pacific, while a few others were tested in Algeria in North Africa.
Like the American tests in the Pacific, the French tests have impacted the health of people living on the islands, with the local government pressuring France to pay for the cleanup of the site and ongoing treatment for the people who were affected.
Lop Nur Nuclear Weapons Test Base, China
The Chinese government carried out 45 tests at the Lop Nur facility in Northern China between 1964 and 1996. In 2009, a study suggested that the radiation from these tests may have been responsible for thousands of deaths in the towns and cities surrounding the site.
UK Test Site, Australia
In addition to the tests they conducted in the United States, the British government also conducted tests in the Australian Outback between 1952 and 1957.
These test sites were so isolated that for some Aboriginal people living in the outback, the first encounter they ever had with modern technology was when they witnessed a nuclear explosion.
India/Pakistan Tests
Both India and Pakistan have tested six nuclear devices. Although they haven’t tested nearly as many weapons as the other countries on this list, many experts believe that the border between India and Pakistan is the world’s most dangerous nuclear “hotspot”.
The border has been the site of conflict for more than seventy years and with both countries possessing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, many fear that a large scale conflict between the two countries could lead to disaster.
Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, North Korea
The most recent addition to this historical map of nuclear weapon usage was North Korea, which tested its first bomb in 2006. Since then, there have been a total of six nuclear tests in the country at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site. Since the last and largest test in 2017, the North Korean government announced that it would shut down the test site in order to ease global tension.
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Share on FacebookCanada did not have a nuclear program. Neither did Australia. The closest they had was England.
Load More Replies...The author forgot the Israeli/South African test in the early 70s on that Antartic island
I left that one out as there's still some debate as to who set it off and the nature of the test. I decided to only include confirmed detonations on the map.
Load More Replies...The amount of propaganda that has gone into keeping the general public content and okay with the idea of there being nuclear weapons capable of destroying Earth many times over is astonishing. The bikini, the swimsuit, that is, has been used as a word in this meaning since the 1940s: named after Bikini, where an atom bomb was exploded in 1946 (because of the supposed ‘explosive’ effect created by the garment). I.e, lending sex appeal and flirt to the most horrendous of weapons. The way Albert Einstein is revered like a modern-day saint with his oh, so endearing smiley eyes and disheveled white hair is surely also by design. Here are a couple of recent articles on the subject: "The World’s Most Dangerous Nuclear Weapon Just Rolled Off the Assembly Line" from https://www.thenation.com/article/mini-nukes-nuclear-weapons-trump-war/
(continued) ... and "Of the nine nations that control the roughly 14,200 nuclear weapons in the world, Russia's bombs could most easily end all life on earth." from https://www.businessinsider.com/9-nuclear-nations-arsenals-ranked-us-vs-russia-china-wins-2019-1 .... and I will end this tirade on a different note: there are people who dedicate a lot of time and energy to try to make Earth a little safer. One is the "International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons" ICAN was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 "for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition on such weapons," https://www.icanw.org
Load More Replies...It should also be noted that the British test site at Maralinga also tested the effects of radiation of the local indigenous population and Australian service men.
It is sad that those aboriginal people's first contact with modern society was a nuclear test.
The English invaders didn't consider the natives as people, but as vermin to get rid of. The same thing applied to the Native American Indians and all the rest of the America's. Everywhere the Europeans colonize they thought that they were of superior breed of humans. This was always done under the banner of the Christian religion of the time. Land was stolen, massive murder was on the agenda, the Colonizers just over the countries leaving nothing for the natives. So horrible and sad.
Load More Replies...This is an interesting and informative article. However, "I Show Every Nuclear Explosion That Has Happened Since 1945" → this title is a bit misleading, since it focuses only on weapons and excludes power plant accidents. Sure, the weapons ones are worse, though, since they're intentional.
And yet, if we had allowed more (safe) nuclear power plants in the 80s, we would not have the carbon emissions- & climate change issues of nowadays. Have to admit that I also joined that 80s-march/protest against nuclear power that day in the Netherlands - instigated by Greenpeace (unfortunately I am THAT old) but according to the knowledge we have currently..... "we were a bit ignorant @ that time" (the times before our world wide interwebz). Not saying we did not have some terrible major nuclear accidents by force majeure & human mistakes with nuclear power plants, and yes these were & are terrible accidents with huge costs (human, animal & geo) towards those countries in question :-( But many plants were & are still safe & these past decades lots of other safe ones (in safe countries, EXCLUDING BELGIUM!) have been dismantled because of politics & ignorance on all kinds of Decision Making Positions :-( Sound familiar? ;-) My apologies for the doom & gloom today.......
Load More Replies...Love it man, what the software you used ? A realtime (animated) webgl version of it would be a blast ! (nuhu)
What I'd like to know us how the hell do you know how many have been detonated? Especially in The USSR, and China. It's all guess work and assumptions.
The global use of gamma-ray and neutron emission detectors to monitor nuclear arms development. The worldwide IMS system uses seismic and acoustic sensors too. Infrared imaging satellites designed to detect missile launches have captured the heat spike from nuclear detonations (and pinpointed their origin) for over 50 years.
Load More Replies...I appreciate that people realize the gravity of the situation, but counterintutively, nuclear bombs have prevented a lot of wars on earth.
I understand the downvotes, but generally the US/USSR Cold War conflict had the potential to be much 'hotter' were the nuclear deterrent not in place. A full-scale conventional war between the US and USSR could have had the potential to be much worse than WWII in terms of scale and number of lives lost, not to detract from the gravity of those lives lost in the proxy wars.
Load More Replies...Canada did not have a nuclear program. Neither did Australia. The closest they had was England.
Load More Replies...The author forgot the Israeli/South African test in the early 70s on that Antartic island
I left that one out as there's still some debate as to who set it off and the nature of the test. I decided to only include confirmed detonations on the map.
Load More Replies...The amount of propaganda that has gone into keeping the general public content and okay with the idea of there being nuclear weapons capable of destroying Earth many times over is astonishing. The bikini, the swimsuit, that is, has been used as a word in this meaning since the 1940s: named after Bikini, where an atom bomb was exploded in 1946 (because of the supposed ‘explosive’ effect created by the garment). I.e, lending sex appeal and flirt to the most horrendous of weapons. The way Albert Einstein is revered like a modern-day saint with his oh, so endearing smiley eyes and disheveled white hair is surely also by design. Here are a couple of recent articles on the subject: "The World’s Most Dangerous Nuclear Weapon Just Rolled Off the Assembly Line" from https://www.thenation.com/article/mini-nukes-nuclear-weapons-trump-war/
(continued) ... and "Of the nine nations that control the roughly 14,200 nuclear weapons in the world, Russia's bombs could most easily end all life on earth." from https://www.businessinsider.com/9-nuclear-nations-arsenals-ranked-us-vs-russia-china-wins-2019-1 .... and I will end this tirade on a different note: there are people who dedicate a lot of time and energy to try to make Earth a little safer. One is the "International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons" ICAN was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 "for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition on such weapons," https://www.icanw.org
Load More Replies...It should also be noted that the British test site at Maralinga also tested the effects of radiation of the local indigenous population and Australian service men.
It is sad that those aboriginal people's first contact with modern society was a nuclear test.
The English invaders didn't consider the natives as people, but as vermin to get rid of. The same thing applied to the Native American Indians and all the rest of the America's. Everywhere the Europeans colonize they thought that they were of superior breed of humans. This was always done under the banner of the Christian religion of the time. Land was stolen, massive murder was on the agenda, the Colonizers just over the countries leaving nothing for the natives. So horrible and sad.
Load More Replies...This is an interesting and informative article. However, "I Show Every Nuclear Explosion That Has Happened Since 1945" → this title is a bit misleading, since it focuses only on weapons and excludes power plant accidents. Sure, the weapons ones are worse, though, since they're intentional.
And yet, if we had allowed more (safe) nuclear power plants in the 80s, we would not have the carbon emissions- & climate change issues of nowadays. Have to admit that I also joined that 80s-march/protest against nuclear power that day in the Netherlands - instigated by Greenpeace (unfortunately I am THAT old) but according to the knowledge we have currently..... "we were a bit ignorant @ that time" (the times before our world wide interwebz). Not saying we did not have some terrible major nuclear accidents by force majeure & human mistakes with nuclear power plants, and yes these were & are terrible accidents with huge costs (human, animal & geo) towards those countries in question :-( But many plants were & are still safe & these past decades lots of other safe ones (in safe countries, EXCLUDING BELGIUM!) have been dismantled because of politics & ignorance on all kinds of Decision Making Positions :-( Sound familiar? ;-) My apologies for the doom & gloom today.......
Load More Replies...Love it man, what the software you used ? A realtime (animated) webgl version of it would be a blast ! (nuhu)
What I'd like to know us how the hell do you know how many have been detonated? Especially in The USSR, and China. It's all guess work and assumptions.
The global use of gamma-ray and neutron emission detectors to monitor nuclear arms development. The worldwide IMS system uses seismic and acoustic sensors too. Infrared imaging satellites designed to detect missile launches have captured the heat spike from nuclear detonations (and pinpointed their origin) for over 50 years.
Load More Replies...I appreciate that people realize the gravity of the situation, but counterintutively, nuclear bombs have prevented a lot of wars on earth.
I understand the downvotes, but generally the US/USSR Cold War conflict had the potential to be much 'hotter' were the nuclear deterrent not in place. A full-scale conventional war between the US and USSR could have had the potential to be much worse than WWII in terms of scale and number of lives lost, not to detract from the gravity of those lives lost in the proxy wars.
Load More Replies...
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