In the race for nuclear research and weapon production, the United States and the Soviet Union conducted tests at various nuclear bomb testing sites.
Maralinga: A site in southern Australia where nuclear weapon tests were conducted, previously regarded as sacred by local residents. As a result, 20 years after the tests ended, an activity was organized to clean up Maralinga. This was the first cleanup effort following the last test in 1963.
Koh Kambaran: Pakistan decided to conduct its first nuclear tests in Balochistan province. Chagai-I was the code name for the underground nuclear test conducted by Pakistan on May 28, 1998, in the Koh Kambaran mountains. Chagai-I marked Pakistan’s first nuclear weapon test. The second test, Chagai-II, followed on May 30, 1998. Currently, local residents rarely visit this area, except for a few nomads and herbal gatherers.
Bikini Atoll: Located in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific, Bikini Atoll is where the United States conducted over 20 nuclear weapon tests. While other explosions were rarely filmed, these detonations were documented fairly frequently. Following the complete evacuation of residents, the U.S. tested nuclear weapons from 1946 to 1958, with an estimated 67 tests conducted. It wasn’t until 1987 that some residents returned to live in the atoll.
Pokhran: On May 18, 1974, in the Thar Desert (also known as Rajasthan) within Pokhran, India successfully tested its first nuclear weapon, an 8-kiloton bomb. India’s first successful atomic bomb test initiated an arms race between India and Pakistan, despite no further nuclear tests occurring, leading instead to the development of intermediate and long-range ballistic missiles by both countries. On May 11, 1998, India conducted further nuclear tests, including a 43-kiloton bomb. This event provoked strong international criticism and led to Pakistan successfully testing its first nuclear bomb at the end of May that same year.
Lop Nur: The Lop Nur testing site in Xinjiang, China, is the largest nuclear test site in the world, covering an area of 100,000 km². It served as China’s primary nuclear testing location until the country signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996. The Chinese military conducted 45 nuclear tests at this site, both in the atmosphere and underground.
Christmas Island: Also known as Kiritimati, this Pacific atoll is notable for being used by both the UK and the US for nuclear weapon testing. Between 1956 and 1958, the UK conducted nuclear tests here, while in 1960, it was used as a testing ground for the US military. The first nuclear bomb detonated by the British on Christmas Island occurred in 1957, with tests continuing until 1958. In 1962, the US conducted 22 detonations.
Novaya Zemlya: The Novaya Zemlya archipelago (meaning “New Land”) is located to the north of the Ural Mountains, consisting of two islands separated by the Matochkin Shar strait in the Arctic Circle. Both islands extend 900 km and cover an area of nearly 83,000 km². On September 17, 1954, the archipelago was chosen for nuclear testing. Since then, 132 nuclear detonations have occurred there, including the largest nuclear test in human history conducted by the Soviet Union on October 30, 1961. On that day, Soviet scientists tested the Tsar Bomba (Tsar Bomb), designed to be 2 meters wide, over 26 meters long, and weighing 27 tons, with an explosive yield equivalent to 57 megatons of TNT.
Mururoa: This atoll in the South Pacific underwent over 181 nuclear weapon tests by France from 1966 to 1986. Over the years, numerous studies have been conducted to assess the damage to these islands, and various organizations have urged France to implement measures to address the environmental damage that persists to this day. The final tests were trapped underground, and when they detonated, they created a crack several kilometers long.
Nevada: The Nevada nuclear test site, operational since 1951, broke all records with 928 nuclear detonations, 800 of which were underground. Atmospheric tests could be observed from Las Vegas, located over 100 km southeast of the Nevada test site. During the 1950s, U.S. nuclear weapon testing occurred quite frequently, and visitors to Las Vegas could easily spot mushroom clouds on the horizon. Today, massive craters and surface deformations from underground tests remain visible through satellite imagery.
Semipalatinsk: The first and one of the largest nuclear test sites in the Soviet Union. From 1949 to 1989, at least 468 nuclear tests were conducted at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in Kazakhstan. The site was closed in 1991. A significant amount of plutonium accumulated there, and from 1996 to 2012, Kazakhstan, Russia, and the United States conducted a covert operation to locate, collect, and process radioactive materials. They collected approximately 200 kg of plutonium.
