Misplaced Pages

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81-692: Little Feller II and Little Feller I were code names for a set of nuclear tests undertaken by the United States at the Nevada Test Site on July 7 and 17, 1962 as part of Operation Sunbeam . They were both tests of stockpiled W54 warheads, the smallest nuclear warheads known to have been produced by the United States, used in both the Davy Crockett warhead and the Special Atomic Demolition Munition . In Little Feller II (July 7),

162-411: A nuclear device conducted by North Korea on October 9, 2006. On October 3, 2006, North Korea announced its intention to conduct a nuclear test . The blast is generally estimated to have had an explosive force of less than one kiloton , and some radioactive output was detected. United States officials suggested the device may have been a nuclear explosive that misfired. An anonymous official at

243-416: A given weapon type for a country is included, as well as tests that were otherwise notable (such as the largest test ever). All yields (explosive power) are given in their estimated energy equivalents in kilotons of TNT (see TNT equivalent ). Putative tests (like Vela incident ) have not been included. 2006 North Korean nuclear test The 2006 North Korean nuclear test was the detonation of

324-472: A motivating force. North Korea later clarified that it did not possess weapons yet, but that it had a right to possess them. In late 2002 and early 2003, North Korea began to take steps to eject International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors while re-routing spent fuel rods for plutonium reprocessing for weapons purposes. Throughout the course of 2003, North Korean and American officials exchanged harsh words and staged military exercises which were interpreted by

405-654: A mountain in Musadan-ri in Hwadae -kun, near the city of Kilchu , in North Hamgyŏng province on the northeast coast. However, later reports from the state National Intelligence Service identified the site as being a place in Sangpyong-ri, about 15 km from the coastal city of Kimchaek and about 50 km west of Musadan-ri. The Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources reported seismic waves measuring 3.58 on

486-487: A nuclear explosion. Radioactive isotopes of the element xenon are produced by the atom splitting that takes place in nuclear explosions and readily seeps out even from underground tests. The advance warning of the test sent to the Chinese government reportedly said that the planned test yield was to be equivalent to approximately four kilotons in strength, but most outside estimates, based largely on seismic readings, put

567-511: A nuclear test at all. However 7 years later, after the 2013 nuclear test , the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources , a state-run geology research institute in Germany, estimated the yield ranging at minimum of 700 tons to the max of 2 kilotons and the 2009 test ranges from minimum of 5 kilotons to the max of 12 kilotons instead with relevant statistics. By comparison,

648-501: A number of populated islands in nearby atoll formations. Though they were soon evacuated, many of the islands' inhabitants suffered from radiation burns and later from other effects such as increased cancer rate and birth defects, as did the crew of the Japanese fishing boat Daigo Fukuryū Maru . One crewman died from radiation sickness after returning to port, and it was feared that the radioactive fish they had been carrying had made it into

729-528: A result of a scenario of a concentrated number of nuclear explosions in a nuclear holocaust , the thousands of tests, hundreds being atmospheric, did nevertheless produce a global fallout that has peaked in 1963 (the Bomb pulse ), reaching levels of about 0.15  mSv per year worldwide, or about 7% of average background radiation dose from all sources, and has slowly decreased since, with natural environmental radiation levels being around 1 mSv . This global fallout

810-468: A single salvo test; Pakistan's second and last official test exploded four different devices. Almost all lists in the literature are lists of tests; in the lists in Misplaced Pages (for example, Operation Cresset has separate items for Cremino and Caerphilly , which together constitute a single test), the lists are of explosions. Separately from these designations, nuclear tests are also often categorized by

891-575: A test had found radioactive gas compatible with a nuclear explosion. The office of John Negroponte , the U.S. Director of National Intelligence confirmed that the size of the explosion was less than 1 kiloton. The explosion was also recorded worldwide by the global monitoring system operated by the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). Two weeks after

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972-447: A variety of fissile material compositions, densities, shapes, and reflectors . They can be subcritical or supercritical, in which case significant radiation fluxes can be produced. This type of test has resulted in several criticality accidents . Subcritical (or cold) tests are any type of tests involving nuclear materials and possibly high explosives (like those mentioned above) that purposely result in no yield . The name refers to

1053-506: A workable nuclear deterrent. Through 2005 more diplomatic talks were attempted between the United States, North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, and Russia (the six-party talks ) but little concrete change occurred. Because North Korea had not conducted a successful test of a nuclear device, the extent of its nuclear weapons program remained ambiguous through 2005 and much of 2006. Though North Korea conducted numerous missile tests (some of which were branded failures by international experts ),

1134-483: Is near Mantapsan , 73 km (45 mi) north of Kimchaek , 90 km (56 mi) southwest of Chongjin , 180 km (110 mi) south of Yanji , and 385 km (239 mi) northeast of Pyongyang . International condemnation of the tests by governments has been nearly unanimous, including from North Korea's close ally and benefactor, the People's Republic of China. All five veto-wielding permanent members of

1215-476: Is very unlikely to develop significant nuclear innovations without testing. One other approach is to use supercomputers to conduct "virtual" testing, but codes need to be validated against test data. There have been many attempts to limit the number and size of nuclear tests; the most far-reaching is the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty of 1996, which has not, as of 2013 , been ratified by eight of

1296-755: The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 1996, these countries pledged to discontinue all nuclear testing; the treaty has not yet entered into force because of its failure to be ratified by eight countries. Non-signatories India and Pakistan last tested nuclear weapons in 1998. North Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006 , 2009 , 2013 , January 2016 , September 2016 and 2017. The most recent confirmed nuclear test occurred in September 2017 in North Korea. Nuclear weapons tests have historically been divided into four categories reflecting

1377-468: The Partial Test Ban Treaty . An additional footnote is Operation Roller Coaster . Although this later series of tests involved no true nuclear detonation, they did disperse radioactive material using conventional explosives and thus may alternatively be considered the last aboveground nuclear test. Nuclear testing The first nuclear device was detonated as a test by the United States at

1458-537: The Richter scale , which corresponds to the explosion of 100 tons of TNT. This was later revised to at least 800 tons, corresponding to a blast wave of 4.2. The U.S. Geological Survey also estimates the blast wave at 4.2. (Note that 4.2 is considerably more powerful than 3.58 because the Richter scale is a logarithmic scale .) According to Jane's Defence Weekly , "initial and unconfirmed South Korean reports indicate that

1539-472: The Richter scale , but it still isn't clear if it was a nuclear test. You can get that kind of seismic reading from high explosives". The Wall Street Journal explains that this blast was equivalent to the explosive force of about US$ 100,000 worth of ammonium nitrate . International experts have said that it will take some time to confirm whether it was a successful nuclear test, as North Korea claimed, or an unsuccessful one (" fizzle "), or perhaps not even

1620-454: The Richter scale . The United States Geological Survey reported that a seismic event occurred at 01:35:28 UTC (10:35:28 am local time, UTC+9 ) on October 9, 2006, and measured 4.3 on the Richter scale . It occurred at the geographic coordinates 41°17′38.4″N 129°08′2.4″E  /  41.294000°N 129.134000°E  / 41.294000; 129.134000 with a horizontal location uncertainty of ±9.6 km (6.0 miles). This

1701-649: The Singapore Exchange to the Philippine Stock Exchange have traded lower, possibly due to the tests. American stock markets were mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down at its open the next day; however, at 10:30 am EDT, the Dow rebounded and concluded the day with an increase of 7.60 points (+0.06%). NSE and BSE of India, however, showed some strength. On October 14, 2006,

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1782-534: The Soviet Union at Novaya Zemlya on October 30, 1961, with the largest yield ever seen, an estimated 50–58 megatons . With the advent of nuclear technology and its increasing impact an anti-nuclear movement formed and in 1963, three (UK, US, Soviet Union) of the then four nuclear states and many non-nuclear states signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty , pledging to refrain from testing nuclear weapons in

1863-667: 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

1944-509: The United Nations Security Council condemned the nuclear test. On October 10, however, South Korean Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook told Parliament that South Korea will not support any United Nations resolution containing military measures against North Korea in retaliation for its nuclear test. Negative economic effects were seen throughout the region after the test. South Korea's KOSPI index fell 2.4% to 1319.4, forcing

2025-500: The United States State Department over whether it could deploy a miniaturized warhead on a missile. Rumours of an impending nuclear test circulated during 2005 and early 2006, though none came to immediate fruition. On October 3, 2006, however, North Korea claimed that it would soon conduct a nuclear test, and on October 9, 2006, the state claimed to have successfully conducted a test. The Korean Central News Agency ,

2106-520: The Vela incident . From the first nuclear test in 1945 until tests by Pakistan in 1998, there was never a period of more than 22 months with no nuclear testing. June 1998 to October 2006 was the longest period since 1945 with no acknowledged nuclear tests. A summary table of all the nuclear testing that has happened since 1945 is here: Worldwide nuclear testing counts and summary . While nuclear weapons testing did not produce scenarios like nuclear winter as

2187-471: The border between North and South Korea , said that the overall situation was "calm" but that "Communist troops were more boldly trying to provoke their southern counterparts: spitting across the demarcation line, making throat-slashing hand gestures, flashing their middle fingers and trying to talk to the troops." On the day of the test, the North Korean Foreign Ministry stated that "if

2268-438: The explosive lenses used to compress the plutonium core, or impurities in the plutonium itself, among other factors. A fizzle can also result from the use of reactor grade plutonium rather than weapons-grade material. On October 13, 2006, CNN reported that two U.S. government officials with access to classified information stated that the initial air sampling over North Korea shows no indication of radioactive debris from

2349-469: The " Annex 2 countries " required for it to take effect, including the United States. Nuclear testing has since become a controversial issue in the United States, with a number of politicians saying that future testing might be necessary to maintain the aging warheads from the Cold War . Because nuclear testing is seen as furthering nuclear arms development, many are opposed to future testing as an acceleration of

2430-531: The CTBT has been signed by 183 States, of which 157 have also ratified. However, for the Treaty to enter into force it needs to be ratified by 44 specific nuclear technology-holder countries. These "Annex 2 States" participated in the negotiations on the CTBT between 1994 and 1996 and possessed nuclear power or research reactors at that time. The ratification of eight Annex 2 states is still missing: China, Egypt, Iran, Israel and

2511-525: The Japanese food supply. Castle Bravo was the worst U.S. nuclear accident, but many of its component problems—unpredictably large yields, changing weather patterns, unexpected fallout contamination of populations and the food supply—occurred during other atmospheric nuclear weapons tests by other countries as well. Concerns over worldwide fallout rates eventually led to the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963, which limited signatories to underground testing. Not all countries stopped atmospheric testing, but because

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2592-510: The Korea Exchange to suspend trading for five minutes upon receiving the news. The Japanese and Taiwanese stock exchanges were closed for a market holiday on the day of the test. The Japanese yen also fell to a seven-month low against the United States dollar while oil on the world market rose above US$ 60 a barrel. Gold prices rose 1% as a safe haven investment. Several stock markets in Asia from

2673-534: The North Korean Embassy in Beijing told a South Korean newspaper that the explosive output was smaller than expected. Because of the secretive nature of North Korea and small yield of the test, there remains some question as to whether it was a successful test of an unusually small device (which would have required sophisticated technology), or a partially failed " fizzle " or dud. A scientific paper later estimated

2754-516: The North Korean device was significantly short of its predicted yield, it could be classified as a "fizzle" indicating that some aspect of the nuclear weapon design or material production did not function correctly. In a fizzle the warhead blows itself apart too fast for the nuclear reactions to generate a large amount of energy, or fails to form a supercritical mass for some other reason. A fizzle can result from predetonation, insufficient precision in

2835-572: The North Koreans possessed the technology to mount a nuclear warhead to a ballistic missile . On October 11, the Associated Press reported that North Korea had threatened war if attempts would be made to penalize them through further sanctions. This statement occurred even as Japan moved to tighten sanctions on the country. South Korea said they were ensuring their troops were prepared for nuclear war . A U.S. Army major, stationed along

2916-502: The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) bans all nuclear explosions everywhere, including underground. For that purpose, the Preparatory Commission of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization is building an international monitoring system with 337 facilities located all over the globe. 85% of these facilities are already operational. As of May 2012 ,

2997-458: The U.S. keeps pestering us and increases pressure, we will regard it as a declaration of war and will take a series of physical corresponding measures". On October 17, North Korea denounced UN sanctions over its nuclear test as a declaration of war and the United States and other nations suspected that North Korea was seeking to conduct a second nuclear test despite international pressure. On October 20, 2006, Kim Jong-il allegedly said that he

3078-688: The UN Security Council unanimously approved limited military and economic sanctions against North Korea . All five permanent members stated that the sanctions, set out in UNSC Resolution 1718 , were intended to penalize the country's regime, not inhabitants. They also stated that if North Korea were willing to cooperate and complied with all the measures contained in the resolution, the sanctions would be lifted. The United States compromised on its initial desire to block all imports of military equipment, and to have an unlimited reference to Chapter VII of

3159-402: The United States and North Korea signed the " Agreed Framework ", whereby North Korea agreed to freeze its graphite moderated reactor program in exchange for fuel, moves toward normalization of political and economic relations, and the construction of two modern nuclear power plants powered by light-water reactors . Eventually, North Korea's existing nuclear facilities were to be dismantled, and

3240-558: The United States and the Soviet Union were responsible for roughly 86% of all nuclear tests, their compliance cut the overall level substantially. France continued atmospheric testing until 1974, and China until 1980. A tacit moratorium on testing was in effect from 1958 to 1961 and ended with a series of Soviet tests in late 1961, including the Tsar Bomba , the largest nuclear weapon ever tested. The United States responded in 1962 with Operation Dominic , involving dozens of tests, including

3321-457: The United States have signed but not ratified the Treaty; India, North Korea and Pakistan have not signed it. The following is a list of the treaties applicable to nuclear testing: Over 500 atmospheric nuclear weapons tests were conducted at various sites around the world from 1945 to 1980. As public awareness and concern mounted over the possible health hazards associated with exposure to the nuclear fallout , various studies were done to assess

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3402-556: The United States which were going to be delivered in exchange for North Korea not developing their own power plants, as understood in the "Agreed Framework". In early 2004 former Los Alamos National Laboratory director Siegfried S. Hecker , as part of an unofficial U.S. delegation, was allowed to inspect North Korea's plutonium production facilities. Hecker later testified before the United States Congress that while North Korea seems to have successfully extracted plutonium from

3483-409: The amount of it that is necessary. Hydronuclear tests study nuclear materials under the conditions of explosive shock compression. They can create subcritical conditions, or supercritical conditions with yields ranging from negligible all the way up to a substantial fraction of full weapon yield. Critical mass experiments determine the quantity of fissile material required for criticality with

3564-417: The arms race. In total nuclear test megatonnage , from 1945 to 1992, 520 atmospheric nuclear explosions (including eight underwater) were conducted with a total yield of 545 megatons , with a peak occurring in 1961–1962, when 340 megatons were detonated in the atmosphere by the United States and Soviet Union , while the estimated number of underground nuclear tests conducted in the period from 1957 to 1992

3645-456: The atmosphere, underwater, or in outer space . The treaty permitted underground nuclear testing . France continued atmospheric testing until 1974, and China continued until 1980. Neither has signed the treaty. Underground tests conducted by the Soviet Union continued until 1990, the United Kingdom until 1991, the United States until 1992, and both China and France until 1996. In signing

3726-481: The blast was actually nuclear. There have been various large planned and unplanned non-nuclear explosions comparable in yield to small nuclear detonations, such as the U.S. " Minor Scale " explosion from 1985, which used conventional explosives to simulate a 4 kiloton detonation. According to the Washington Times anonymous U.S. intelligence sources speculated there "was a seismic event that registered about 4 on

3807-482: The burial points of all explosive devices can be connected by segments of straight lines, each of them connecting two burial points, and the total length does not exceed 40 kilometers. For nuclear weapon tests, a salvo is defined as two or more underground nuclear explosions conducted at a test site within an area delineated by a circle having a diameter of two kilometers and conducted within a total period of time of 0.1 seconds. The USSR has exploded up to eight devices in

3888-450: The detonation, a CTBTO radionuclide monitoring station in northern Canada detected traces of the radioactive noble gas xenon in the air. Backtracking calculations by analysts at the CTBTO indicated that the xenon particles originated from North Korea and that the explosion had been nuclear in nature. According to initial reports from South Korean government sources, the test was carried out at

3969-417: The event that North Korea says was an underground nuclear test. Some hours later, the report was reversed and stated there was evidence of radiation, though not enough data has been collected yet to be conclusive. The newspaper Hankyoreh reported an unnamed North Korean diplomat had acknowledged that the actual yield was smaller than expected. On October 16, 2006, the United States government reported that

4050-715: The explosion of a missile launched from a submarine. Almost all new nuclear powers have announced their possession of nuclear weapons with a nuclear test. The only acknowledged nuclear power that claims never to have conducted a test was South Africa (although see Vela incident ), which has since dismantled all of its weapons. Israel is widely thought to possess a sizable nuclear arsenal, though it has never tested, unless they were involved in Vela. Experts disagree on whether states can have reliable nuclear arsenals—especially ones using advanced warhead designs, such as hydrogen bombs and miniaturized weapons—without testing, though all agree that it

4131-441: The explosion's effects, it did not give an appreciable understanding of nuclear fallout , which was not well understood by the project scientists until well after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki . The United States conducted six atomic tests before the Soviet Union developed their first atomic bomb ( RDS-1 ) and tested it on August 29, 1949. Neither country had very many atomic weapons to spare at first, and so testing

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4212-405: The extent of the hazard. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / National Cancer Institute study claims that nuclear fallout might have led to approximately 11,000 excess deaths, most caused by thyroid cancer linked to exposure to iodine-131 . The following list is of milestone nuclear explosions. In addition to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , the first nuclear test of

4293-413: The first plutonium core nuclear device tested by the United States ( Trinity test ) had a yield of 20 kilotons of TNT, and the first nuclear device detonated by India in 1974 , though of primitive design, had a yield in the region of 8 kilotons of TNT. If the North Korean nuclear test is less than even a kiloton in yield, it would be a historically small inaugural nuclear test. Even if it were as many as

4374-537: The formation of these treaties. Examples can be seen in the following articles: The Partial Nuclear Test Ban treaty makes it illegal to detonate any nuclear explosion anywhere except underground, in order to reduce atmospheric fallout. Most countries have signed and ratified the Partial Nuclear Test Ban, which went into effect in October 1963. Of the nuclear states, France, China, and North Korea have never signed

4455-438: The lack of creation of a critical mass of fissile material. They are the only type of tests allowed under the interpretation of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty tacitly agreed to by the major atomic powers. Subcritical tests continue to be performed by the United States, Russia, and the People's Republic of China, at least. Subcritical tests executed by the United States include: The first atomic weapons test

4536-409: The later phases of the Cold War , though, both countries developed accelerated testing programs, testing many hundreds of bombs over the last half of the 20th century. Atomic and nuclear tests can involve many hazards. Some of these were illustrated in the U.S. Castle Bravo test in 1954. The weapon design tested was a new form of hydrogen bomb, and the scientists underestimated how vigorously some of

4617-455: The medium or location of the test. Another way to classify nuclear tests is by the number of explosions that constitute the test. The treaty definition of a salvo test is: In conformity with treaties between the United States and the Soviet Union, a salvo is defined, for multiple explosions for peaceful purposes, as two or more separate explosions where a period of time between successive individual explosions does not exceed 5 seconds and where

4698-509: The military effects of atomic weapons ( Crossroads had involved the effect of atomic weapons on a navy, and how they functioned underwater) and to test new weapon designs. During the 1950s, these included new hydrogen bomb designs, which were tested in the Pacific, and also new and improved fission weapon designs. The Soviet Union also began testing on a limited scale, primarily in Kazakhstan . During

4779-492: The other party to be aggressive. As late as the end of 2003, North Korea claimed that it would freeze its nuclear program in exchange for American concessions – in particular a non-aggression treaty – but a final agreement was not reached and talks continued to be cancelled or fall through. North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003 after not receiving light-water reactors promised by

4860-614: The peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the area around it. Later, the North Korean envoy to the U.N. said it would be better for the Security Council to offer its congratulations rather than pass "useless" resolutions . On October 10, 2006, an unnamed North Korean official was quoted as saying that North Korea could launch a nuclear missile unless the United States would sit down for face-to-face talks. However, few, if any, military and defense experts believed that

4941-528: The purpose of the test itself. Aside from these technical considerations, tests have been conducted for political and training purposes, and can often serve multiple purposes. Computer simulation is used extensively to provide as much information as possible without physical testing. Mathematical models for such simulation model scenarios not only of performance but also of shelf life and maintenance . A theme has generally been that even though simulations cannot fully replace physical testing, they can reduce

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5022-445: The question of whether they had actually mastered all aspects of nuclear weapons technology – ranging from material production to complex nuclear weapon design needed to produce the final detonation – remained unanswered. As of 2013 there was agreement in the U.S. intelligence community that North Korea could build a "modest" bomb with a yield of between 6 and 10 kilotons, but disagreement between Defense Intelligence Agency , CIA and

5103-401: The reported intentional yield of 4 kt it would be the smallest nuclear test ever conducted by a state as a first test. Some advanced nuclear powers have produced very small tactical nuclear weapons in the low-kiloton range, but their development is far more technologically challenging than that of weapons in the 15–20 kiloton range, requiring advanced weapons materials and core geometries. If

5184-429: The spent fuel rods, he saw no evidence at the time that they had actually produced a workable weapon. In 2007, the former senior scientist of Pakistan, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan claimed that North Korea's nuclear program was well advanced before his visit in 1993 with Benazir Bhutto , former prime minister. In September 2004, though, North Korean officials announced they had successfully processed Yongbyon plutonium into

5265-474: The spent reactor fuel taken out of the country. However, in 2002, rumors circulated that North Korea was pursuing both uranium enrichment technology and plutonium reprocessing technologies in defiance of the Agreed Framework. North Korea reportedly told American diplomats in private that they were in possession of nuclear weapons, citing American failures to uphold their own end of the "Agreed Framework" as

5346-449: The state's news agency, issued the following statement: The field of scientific research in the DPRK successfully conducted an underground nuclear test under secure conditions on October 9, Juche 95 (2006), at a stirring time when all the people of the country are making a great leap forward in the building of a great, prosperous, powerful socialist nation. It has been confirmed that there

5427-471: The test was a fission device with a yield of 0.55 kT ... The figure of 0.55 kT, however, seems too low given the 4.2 register on the Richter scale. This could suggest – depending upon the geological make-up of the test site – a yield of 2–12 kT". An official in France's Atomic Energy Commission reported that they estimated the blast was "about or less than a kiloton" and expressed uncertainty about whether or not

5508-427: The warhead was suspended only three feet above the ground and had a yield equivalent to 22 tons of TNT (92  GJ ). In Little Feller I (July 17), the warhead was launched as a Davy Crockett device from a stationary 155 millimeter launcher and set to detonate between 20–40 feet (6.1–12.2 m) above the ground around 1.7 miles (2.7 km) from the launch point, with a yield of 18 tons of TNT (75 GJ). This test

5589-455: The weapon materials would react. As a result, the explosion—with a yield of 15 Mt —was over twice what was predicted. Aside from this problem, the weapon also generated a large amount of radioactive nuclear fallout , more than had been anticipated, and a change in the weather pattern caused the fallout to spread in a direction not cleared in advance. The fallout plume spread high levels of radiation for over 100 miles (160 km), contaminating

5670-402: The yield as 0.48 kilotons. Reportedly the government of the People's Republic of China was given a 20-minute advance notification that the test was about to occur. China sent an emergency alert to Washington, D.C. , through the U.S. Embassy in Beijing at which time President George W. Bush was told by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley "shortly after" 10 p.m. ( UTC-5 ) that a test

5751-473: The yield at much less. At a meeting with President Vladimir Putin , Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov stated that "the power of the tests carried out was 5 to 15 kilotons", though this early estimate is much higher than any other international estimate. An early report by the Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources of South Korea said the blast was equivalent to an earthquake registering 3.58 on

5832-587: Was "sorry" over his country's nuclear test, and wished to return to talk with the United Nations. According to a Chinese envoy, Kim Jong-il said: If the U.S. makes a concession to some degree, we will also make a concession to some degree, whether it be bilateral talks or six-party talks Kim Jong-Il also stated that he had no future plans to test another nuclear device; the U.S. State Department discounted this report. On October 31, 2006, North Korea agreed to rejoin six-nation disarmament talks . The agreement

5913-493: Was 1,352 explosions with a total yield of 90 Mt. The yields of atomic bombs and thermonuclear are typically measured in different amounts. Thermonuclear bombs can be hundreds or thousands of times stronger than their atomic counterparts. Due to this, thermonuclear bombs' yields are usually expressed in megatons which is about the equivalent of 1,000,000 tons of TNT. In contrast, atomic bombs' yields are typically measured in kilotons, or about 1,000 tons of TNT. In US context, it

5994-473: Was conducted near Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, during the Manhattan Project , and given the codename " Trinity ". The test was originally to confirm that the implosion-type nuclear weapon design was feasible, and to give an idea of what the actual size and effects of a nuclear explosion would be before they were used in combat against Japan. While the test gave a good approximation of many of

6075-819: Was decided during the Manhattan Project that yield measured in tons of TNT equivalent could be imprecise. This comes from the range of experimental values of the energy content of TNT, ranging from 900 to 1,100 calories per gram (3,800 to 4,600 kJ/g). There is also the issue of which ton to use, as short tons, long tons, and metric tonnes all have different values. It was therefore decided that one kiloton would be equivalent to 1.0 × 10 calories (4.2 × 10  kJ). The nuclear powers have conducted more than 2,000 nuclear test explosions (numbers are approximate, as some test results have been disputed): There may also have been at least three alleged but unacknowledged nuclear explosions (see list of alleged nuclear tests ) including

6156-454: Was imminent. North Korea had been suspected of maintaining a clandestine nuclear weapons development program since the early 1980s when it constructed a plutonium -producing Magnox nuclear reactor at Yongbyon , and various diplomatic means had been used by the international community to attempt to limit North Korea's nuclear work to peaceful and scientific means and encouraging North Korea to participate in international treaties. In 1994,

6237-470: Was no such danger as radioactive emission in the course of the nuclear test as it was carried out under scientific consideration and careful calculation. The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 percent. It marks an historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the KPA and people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defence capability. It will contribute to defending

6318-692: Was one of the main drivers for the ban of nuclear weapons testing, particularly atmospheric testing. It has been estimated that by 2020 up to 2.4 million people have died as a result of nuclear weapons testing. There are many existing anti-nuclear explosion treaties, notably the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty . These treaties were proposed in response to growing international concerns about environmental damage among other risks. Nuclear testing involving humans also contributed to

6399-552: Was performed in conjunction with Operation Ivy Flats , a simulated military environment, and was observed by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and presidential adviser General Maxwell D. Taylor . Little Feller I was the last near-ground atmospheric nuclear detonation conducted by the United States (the high altitude Fishbowl tests concluded in November 1962 with a detonation at around 69,000 feet (21 km) altitude). All further tests were conducted underground, in accordance with

6480-443: Was relatively infrequent (when the U.S. used two weapons for Operation Crossroads in 1946, they were detonating over 20% of their current arsenal). However, by the 1950s the United States had established a dedicated test site on its own territory ( Nevada Test Site ) and was also using a site in the Marshall Islands ( Pacific Proving Grounds ) for extensive atomic and nuclear testing. The early tests were used primarily to discern

6561-402: Was struck in a day of unpublicized discussions between the senior envoys from the United States, China and North Korea at a government guesthouse in Beijing. The talks resumed on December 18, 2006. The low yield of the test initially raised questions as to whether it was a nuclear explosion but detection of airborne radioactive isotopes by a United States military aircraft confirmed that it was

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