Since the beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the fear of a nuclear bomb has been growing. In September, thanks to Ukraine’s recapture of some important territories that had been occupied by Russia, the fear has further increased. Indeed, there are fears that Putin may decide to change the outcome of the war by dropping a nuclear bomb.
In today’s article we will look at some important data on the nations that have carried out the most tests since 1945.
Which nations have carried out the most recent tests and which nuclear tests have had the most powerful atomic bombs. Every Nuclear Bomb Explosion in History Since 1945.
Every Nuclear Bomb test in History
July 16, 1945, New Mexico, United States. This is the date of the first atomic bomb tested by the U.S. and then in the world. A little less than a month later, on August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped the first real atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The two atomic bombs were dropped during World War II, which ended on September 2, 1945.
The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs are estimated to have caused 150,000 and 220,000 casualties. Many of these victims were civilians. Precisely because of the disaster caused by this type of bomb from 1945 onward none were dropped during wars. But since 1945-as we will see shortly-many tests have been carried out.
Who has the most powerful bomb in the world?
If the bombs dropped by the United States in 1945 resulted in the most civilian casualties, what are the strongest atomic bombs in the world? After 1945 and with the arrival of the Cold War, nduclear bomb tests were continuous. The most potent hydrogen bomb was the Tsar Bomb or RDS-220. Tsar bomb was dropped by the Soviet Union on October 30, 1961 at 11:32 a.m. (Moscow city time. The explosion disintegrated an interior village (abbadonato) that was nearly 60 km from the blast site. The power of this bomb was more than 3 times that dropped on Hiroshima 16 years earlier.
The world’s most powerful nuclear tests in many cases feature the Soviet Union. While the Tsar Bomb was dropped in 1961, 1962 saw a large number of nuclear tests including number 219 which saw a radius of 41 km, about 25 miles, and a power of 24,200 kilotons. The figure is half that of the 1961 Tsar Bomb. But if we combine this type of test with numbers 173, 174, and 147 in 1962, one can see how the Soviet Union in the 1960s was working very seriously on atomic bomb research. In contrast, the most potent nuclear bomb generated by the United States is the Castle Bravo. The power of this bomb in kilotons was 15,000. Theoretically this power is also due to a design error in that the bomb was designed to make half as much power.
Top 10 Largest Nuclear Explosions
- Tsar Bomba, 50,000 kilotons, 1961;
- Soviet Test #219, 24,200 kilotons, 1962;
- Soviet test #147, 20,000 kilotons, 1962;
- Soviet test #174, 20,000 kilotons, 1962;
- Soviet test #173, 20,000 kilotons, 1962;
- Casle Bravo, 15,000 kilotons, 1954;
- Casle Yankee, 13,500 kilotons, 1945;
- Soviet test #123, 12,500 kilotons, 1961;
- Castle Romeo, 11,000 kilotons, 1954;
- Ivy Mike, 10,400 kilotons, 1952;
Nations with the most nuclear tests
With the Cold War, the development of nuclear testing became a reality. But which nations in the world have done more nuclear bomb testing? A total of eight nations in the world have carried out nuclear tests. These nations include the United States and the Soviet Union as well as China, the United Kingdom, France, Pakistan, North Korea and India. The total number of nuclear bomb tests carried out from 1945 to 2021 is 2059. The nation that has carried out the most tests is the United States with 1030 total tests, more than 50% of the tests. In second position is the Soviet Union which carried out 715 tests and in third position is France with 210. China and the United Kingdom both carried out 45 total tests while there are 3 nations that carried out less than 10: India (3), North Korea (9) and Pakistan (2).
The year with the highest number of nuclear tests was 1962. A total of 178 tests were carried out worldwide in 1962. The nation that carried out the most were the United States, which carried out as many as 96 in that year, followed by the USSR with 79. However, 1962 followed a peculiar year. Just in 1961, the Soviet Union had not only carried out the most tests, 59 compared to the United States’ 10, but had made the strongest nuclear bomb in history. The Tsar Bomb. This is precisely why 1962 was the worst year in terms of nuclear tests. The second worst year was 1958 with tests numbering 116. With the end of the Cold War and to international agreements since the 1990s the number of nuclear tests has definitely decreased. In the past 15 years the only nation that has carried out nuclear tests has been North Korea. The last test carried out by North Korea was in 2017.
North korea nuclear test:
- 9 October 2006. Punggye-ri Test Site, North Korea, 1, 0.7–2 kt;
- 25 May 2009, Punggye-ri Test Site, North Korea, 2–5.4 kt;
- 12 February 2013, Punggye-ri Test Site, North Korea, 6-16kt
- 6 January 2016, Punggye-ri Test Site, North Korea;
- 9 September 2016, Punggye-ri Test Site, North Korea, 15–25 kt;
- 3 September 2017, Punggye-ri Test Site, North Korea, 70–280 kt;
Stockpiles of nuclear weapons 2022
Which nations have the most stockpiles of nuclear bombs in 2022? To date, the nation with the most nuclear bomb stockpiles is Russia. In total there are 4477 nuclear bombs in its possession. From what is possible to study and understand, not all of these bombs are “new,” quite the contrary. Many are those of the Soviet Union and therefore difficult to use. But in any case Russia is today the state with the most nuclear bombs in the world. In second position among the nations with the most nuclear bombs in 2022 is the United States with 3708 and in third position is China with 360. There are i n total nine countries in the world that have nuclear bombs, including North Korea which has 20 in total.
Data Source
The source of the data to make this video is largely: johnstonsarchive. In addition to this source, I tried to study through books and other as much information as possible. The videos you see refer to some of the largest nuclear tests in world history and some tests carried out by Pakistan, China, and France.
In this video: Every Nuclear Bomb Explosion in History. To make this video, I analyzed all the different archives on nuclear tests carried out by different states. Each dot indicates a different explosion. The larger the dot, the larger the explosion. The data used was: Yeld KT.
To watch the video on youtube “Every Nuclear Bomb Explosion”: https://youtu.be/QHV6745gt10
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