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ACRONYM Reports

A Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty: Signed but not Sealed

Appendix 2:
The Age of Testing 1945 - 1996

Appendix II:The Age of Testing 1945 - 1996

Estimated number of nuclear explosions, 16 July 1945 - 24 Sept 1996
Taken from Table 14A.2. pp 658-660 SIPRI Yearbook 1996 Armaments, Disarmament and International Security, Oxford University Press 1996, updated.

a= atmospheric: u = underground

^a All British tests from 1962 have been conducted jointly with the USA at the Nevada Test Site, so the number of US tests is actually higher than indicated here. Britain observed a unilateral moratorium on testing in 1965-74.

^b One of these tests was carried out under water.

^c Two of these tests were carried out under water.

^d The UK, the USA and the USSR observed a moratorium on testing in the period Nov. 1958 - Sept. 1961.

^e On 5 Aug. 1963 the USA, the USSR and the UK signed the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT), prohibiting nuclear explosions in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water.

^f Five devices used simultaneously in the same explosion (a peaceful nuclear explosion, PNE, to develop peaceful uses for atomic energy) are counted here as one explosion.

^g Three devices used simultaneously in the same explosion (a peaceful nuclear explosion, PNE, to develop peaceful uses for atomic energy) are counted here as one explosion.

^h The USSR observed a unilateral moratorium on testing in the period Aug. 1985 - Feb. 1987.

ⁱ The USSR has observed a moratorium on testing from Oct. 1991 and the USA since Oct. 1992; France observed a moratorium from Apr. 1992 until the president announced in June 1995 that a new series of tests would be started.

© 1997 The Acronym Institute.