US Nuclear Tests: July 1945 through September 1992
DOE/NV-209 (Rev. 15)December 2000
This document lists chronologically and alphabetically by name all nuclear tests and simultaneous detonations conducted by the United States from July 1945 through September 1992. Several tests conducted during Operation Dominic involved missile launches from Johnston Atoll. Several of these missile launches were aborted, resulting in the destruction of the missile and nuclear device either on the pad or in the air.
On August 5, 1963, the United States and the former Soviet Union signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty which effectively banned testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, the oceans, and space. In 1974 and 1976, the United States and former Soviet Union also signed the Threshold Test Ban Treaty and the Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty, respectively, restricting all nuclear test explosions to yields no greater than 150 kilotons.
On December 7, 1993 and June 27, 1994, the Secretary of Energy declassified information related to previously unannounced nuclear weapons tests; simultaneous detonations associated with nuclear weapons tests; yields of an additional 77 atmospheric tests; and yields of 20 underground nuclear weapons tests that released radioactivity detected off the Nevada Test Site.
Data on United States tests were obtained from, and verified by, the Department of Energy's three weapons laboratories -- Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California; and Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico; and the Defense Nuclear Agency. Additionally, data were obtained from public announcements issued by the Atomic Energy Commission and its successors, the Energy Research and Development Administration, and the Department of Energy, respectively.
