Arms Control NOW
Nuclear Testing Index, August 29, 2012
2,045: Total number of nuclear weapons tests before the CTBT was opened for signature in September 1996.
9.14 days: Average time between nuclear blasts.
7: Total number of nuclear weapons test explosions after the CTBT was opened for signature in September 1996.
831.4 days: Average time between nuclear blasts.
1,054: Total number of U.S. nuclear weapons tests, involving 1,148 detonations.
928: Number of nuclear weapons tests conducted in Nevada.
15 megatons: Total yield of the largest U.S. explosion, codenamed Bravo.
715: Total number of Soviet/Russian nuclear weapons test explosions.
456: Number of nuclear weapons tests conducted in Kazakhstan.
50 megatons: Approximate total yield of the Soviet Union’s Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear explosion to ever take place.
210: Number of nuclear tests carried out by France.
45: Number of nuclear tests carried out by the United Kingdom.
45: Number of nuclear tests carried out by China.
3: Total number of nuclear tests conducted by India.
2: Total number of nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan.
2: Total number of nuclear tests conducted by North Korea.
2: Total number of nuclear tests conducted by the United States in the state of Mississippi.
179: Number of nuclear tests carried out in 1962 alone (by the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, and France).
50: Number of days between the signature of the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) and U.S. ratification.
1,243: Number of days since President Barack Obama declared “To achieve a global ban on nuclear testing, my Administration will immediately and aggressively pursue U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.”
5,819: Number of days since the United States signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
183: Number of countries that have signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
157: Number of countries that have ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
8: Number of states listed in Annex II that must still ratify to bring the treaty into force.
25% of the 337 International Monitoring System (IMS) facilities to verify compliance with the CTBT were in place in 1999.
90% of the 337 International Monitoring System (IMS) facilities to verify compliance with the CTBT were in place by 2010.
$5.3 billion: Total funding requested for weapons activities/maintenance for U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in fiscal 1999 (in 2010 dollars).
$7.6 billion: Total funding requested for weapons activities/maintenance for U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in fiscal 2013 (in 2010 dollars).
Sources: Arms Control Association; The Brookings Institution; U.S. Department of Energy; CTBT Organization; U.S. Department of State; United Nations.