List of nuclear weapons tests of the United States

Trinity, part of Project Alberta, was the first ever nuclear explosion.

The nuclear weapons tests of the United States were performed between 1945 and 1992 as part of the nuclear arms race. The United States conducted around 1,054 nuclear tests by official count, including 216 atmospheric, underwater, and space tests.^[1] Most of the tests took place at the Nevada Test Site (NNSS/NTS) and the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Marshall Islands and off Kiribati Island in the Pacific, plus three in the Atlantic Ocean. Ten other tests took place at various locations in the United States, including Alaska, Nevada other than the NNSS/NTS, Colorado, Mississippi, and New Mexico.

List

United States' nuclear testing series summary - Link to world summary of nuclear weapons tests

Series or years	Years covered	Tests [Summ 1]	Devices fired	Devices with unknown yield	Peaceful use tests	Non-PTBT tests [Summ 2]	Yield range (kilotons) [Summ 3]	Total yield (kilotons) [Summ 4]	Notes
Alberta	1942–1945	3	3			3	15 to 21	57	The project to pursue the Atomic Bomb and use it against WWII belligerents.
Crossroads	1946	2	2			2	21	42	First postwar test series.
Sandstone	1948	3	3			3	18 to 49	104	The first use of "levitated" cores made of oralloy. Tested components for Mark 4 design.
Ranger	1951	5	5			5	1 to 22	40	First tests at the Nevada Test Site. Operation originally named "Operation Faust".
Greenhouse	1951	4	4			4	46 to 225	398	George shot was physics experiment relating to the hydrogen bomb; Item shot was first boosted fission weapon.
Buster-Jangle	1951	7	7			7	small to 31	72	The first series in which troop maneuvers (Operation Desert Rock) were performed.
Tumbler-Snapper	1952	8	8			8	1 to 31	104
Ivy	1952	2	2			2	500 to 10,400	10,900	The "Mike" shot was the first multi-megaton thermonuclear weapon.
Upshot-Knothole	1953	11	11			11	small to 61	252	18,000 men exposed in Desert Rock V up to 26.6 REM. 84 exceeded current yearly limits of 5 REM/yr.
Castle	1954	6	6			6	110 to 15,000	48,200	Bravo shot inspired secret 4.1 project to study fallout victims. It over-produced by 250% of expected yield, caused fallout over a wide area.
Teapot	1955	14	14			14	1 to 43	167
Wigwam	1955	1	1			1	30	30
Project 56	1955–56	4	4			4	0 to 0	0
Redwing	1956	17	17			17	small to 5,000	20,820	Test with "energy budget". Competition between UCRL and LASL over budget allocation was high.
Project 57	1957	1	1			1	0	0	The first safety test, asking whether an improperly ignited bomb (as in a plane crash) would cause a nuclear blast.
Plumbbob	1957	29	29			25	0 to 74	345
Project 58+58A	1957	4	4			1	small to 1	1	Four more safety tests.
Hardtack I	1958	35	35			35	0 to 9,300	35,628	A series in the Pacific Proving Ground, including three rocket boosted high altitude tests called Operation Newsreel.
Argus	1958	3	3			3	2	4	Also known as Operation Floral before becoming Argus for security reasons. Tested three weapons in the South Atlantic, trying to create an artificial energy belt in the magnetosphere.
Hardtack II	1958	37	37			24	0 to 22	46	Meant to squeeze all possible testing into the time before Eisenhower's test ban started on 30 October 1958. Planned as "Operation Millrace", changed to HT II when a science panel recommended to "stop testing after the Hardtack series."
Nougat	1961–62	44	44		1	2	small to 67	357	First all-underground test series. Included first Operation Plowshare shot "Gnome" in Carlsbad, New Mexico, which was detonated in an underground salt dome.
Sunbeam	1962	4	4			4	small to 2	2	Aka Operation Dominic II. Test of small tactical warheads, including the man-portable "Davy Crockett". Last atmospheric test series. The Army's part of Sunbeam was Operation Ivy Flats.
Dominic	1962–63	31	31			31	2 to 8,300	34,640	"Frigate Bird" was the only operational test of a missile "mated" with a live warhead. Series also included three high-altitude tests known as Operation Fishbowl, separated out in this text.
Fishbowl	1962	9	9	4		9	400 to 1,400	2,205	The high altitude rocket part of Operation Dominic. Included several failed tests as the rockets failed for various reasons.
Storax	1962–63	47	47		3	1	1 to 115	585
Roller Coaster	1963	4	4			4	0	0	Storage-transportation safety experiments, measured plutonium dispersal risk.
Niblick	1963–64	41	43		4		small to 249	698
Whetstone	1964–65	46	49		4	1	small to 51	476
Flintlock	1965–66	47	49		2		small to 365	1,891
Latchkey	1966–67	38	38		3		small to 870	1,831
Crosstie	1967–68	48	57	5	4	2	small to 1,300	3,638
Bowline	1968–69	47	58		2	1	small to 1,150	2,152
Mandrel	1969–70	52	78	1	2		small to 1,900	5,528
Emery	1970–71	16	24	2			small to 220	565
Grommet	1971–72	34	39		1		small to 4,800	5,200	Included Cannikin, the largest underground explosion ever at 5 Mt, fired under the Aleutian island Amchitka.
Toggle	1972–73	28	35		1		small to 250	958
Arbor	1973–74	18	20				small to 150	274
Bedrock	1974–75	27	29				small to 750	2,840
Anvil	1975–76	21	21				0 to 1,000	5,993
Fulcrum	1976–77	21	24				small to 140	635
Cresset	1977–78	22	23				0 to 150	1,122
Quicksilver	1978–79	16	16				1 to 140	717
Tinderbox	1979–80	14	14				1 to 140	452
Guardian	1980–81	14	14				1 to 140	322
Praetorian	1981–82	19	20				1 to 140	938
Phalanx	1982–83	18	19				1 to 143	365
Fusileer	1983–84	16	16				small to 150	521
Grenadier	1984–85	16	16				3 to 150	670
Charioteer	1985–86	16	16				small to 140	549
Musketeer	1986–87	14	16				3 to 150	970
Touchstone	1987–88	13	15				2 to 150	696
Cornerstone	1988–89	11	17				1 to 150	436
Aqueduct	1989–90	10	13				small to 150	426
Sculpin	1990–91	7	9				2 to 140	478
Julin	1991–92	7	9				small to 100	172	The last test series, cut off by the adoption of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Totals	1945-Jul-16 to 1992-Sep-23	1032	1132	12	27	231	0 to 15,000	196,514	Total country yield is 36.3% of all nuclear testing.

1. Includes all tests with potential for nuclear fission or fusion explosion, including combat use, singleton tests, salvo tests, zero yield fails, safety experiments, and bombs incapacitated by accidents but still intended to be fired. It does not include hydronuclear and subcritical tests, and misfires of a device which was subsequently fired successfully.
2. Number of tests which would have been in violation of the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963, such as atmospheric, space or underwater tests. Some "peaceful use" cratering tests which should have been violations were protested, and later quietly dropped.
3. "Small" refers to a value greater than zero but less than 0.5 kt.
4. Some yields are described like "< 20 kt"; such are scored at one half of the numeric amount, i.e., yield of 10k in this example. "Unknown yield" adds nothing to the total.

Timeline

Graphical timeline of United States atmospheric nuclear weapons tests

^[2]

References

1. "United States Nuclear Tests: July 1945 through September 1992" (PDF) (DOE/NV-209 REV15). Las Vegas, NV: Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office. 2000-12-01. Retrieved 2013-12-18. Discrepancies with the table include 24 tests actually carried out by the United Kingdom at the NTS; Fat Man and Little Boy; four aborted tests in Operation Fishbowl; one test, Anvil/Peninsula, that jammed during lowering in its shaft and was abandoned; and five salvo tests listed as two enumerated tests each because they were treated that way when eventually described to the public, rather than standing on the treaty definition of a salvo test (see Introduction - Caveat).
2. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office "United States Nuclear Tests: July 1945 through September 1992", DOE/NV-209 REV15, 2000-12-01

Sources

• Yang, Xiaoping; North, Robert; Romney, Carl (August 2000). "CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3)". SMDC Monitoring Research.
• Andryushi, LA; Voloshin, N.P.; Ilkaev, R.I.; Matushchenko, A.M.; Ryabev, L.D.; Strukov, V.G.; Chernyshev, A.K.; Yudin, Yu.A. Mikhailov, V.N., ed. "Catalog of Worldwide Nuclear Testing". Retrieved 2013-03-04.
• Wm Robert Johnston, PhD. "Johnston Archive of Nuclear Weapons". Retrieved 2013-12-31.