Back in time
Open the live mapNuclear explosions, 1945 to 1998
Every nuclear explosion from the Trinity test in July 1945 to May 1998, the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki among them, placed at its test site.
What you see
- Each explosion as a green mark sized by its yield in kilotons.
- Click one for the country, the site, the type (tower, airdrop, underground and others), the yield and the purpose.
- Opened from this page, the map plays 1945 to 1998.
Where the data comes from
- SIPRI and FOAThe list of nuclear explosions compiled by SIPRI and the Swedish National Defence Research Institute (FOA), as published by TidyTuesday.
A closed list that ends in 1998, so North Korea’s tests from 2006 on are not in it.
Good to know
- The United States made nearly half the explosions here, and the Soviet Union most of the rest, many at Semipalatinsk in today’s Kazakhstan.
- The list’s licence is not stated.
The largest yields
- Soviet Union nuclear test30 Oct 1961 · Nuclear test · Yield (kt) 50,000
- Soviet Union nuclear test27 Sep 1962 · Nuclear test · Yield (kt) 50,000
- Soviet Union nuclear test24 Dec 1962 · Nuclear test · Yield (kt) 24,200
- Soviet Union nuclear test5 Aug 1962 · Nuclear test · Yield (kt) 21,100
- Soviet Union nuclear test25 Sep 1962 · Nuclear test · Yield (kt) 19,100
- Bravo (United States)28 Feb 1954 · Nuclear test · Yield (kt) 15,000
- Yankee (United States)4 May 1954 · Nuclear test · Yield (kt) 13,500
- Soviet Union nuclear test23 Oct 1961 · Nuclear test · Yield (kt) 12,500
- Romeo (United States)26 Mar 1954 · Nuclear test · Yield (kt) 11,000
- Mike (United States)31 Oct 1952 · Nuclear test · Yield (kt) 10,400
The first recorded here in each decade
- Trinity (United States)16 Jul 1945 · Nuclear test · Yield (kt) 21
- Baker2 (United States)2 Feb 1951 · Nuclear test · Yield (kt) 8
- Gerboise Bleue (France)13 Feb 1960 · Nuclear test · Yield (kt) 200
- На севере Пермской области взорваны три ядерных боезаряда с целью создания искусственного канала между реками Печора и Колва (Пермский край) для подпитки…23 Mar 1971 · Nuclear test
- Thyeste (France)23 Feb 1980 · Nuclear test · Yield (kt) 5
- Pokhran-II (Operation Shakti): India conducts three underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, including one thermonuclear device11 May 1998 · Nuclear test
- North Korea successfully performed two nuclear tests in 2006 and 20092000s · Nuclear test
- Throughout the decade, North Korea expanded its nuclear capabilities, performing alleged nuclear tests in 2013 and 2016, which governments responded by placing…2010s · Nuclear test
Goes well with
Missile launches since 1942More than 15,000 missile launches from the V-2 tests of 1942 to today, from Jonathan McDowell’s launch log, each at its launch site and with its outcome.
Radiation levelsBackground radiation on a live map, from EPA RadNet monitors in the US and Safecast’s volunteer sensors worldwide, compared with each station’s normal.Wars in historyWars, civil wars, rebellions and armed conflicts from 2600 BCE to today on one map, from Wikidata, the Correlates of War and the Uppsala Conflict Data Program.
Radiation levelsBackground radiation on a live map, from EPA RadNet monitors in the US and Safecast’s volunteer sensors worldwide, compared with each station’s normal.Wars in historyWars, civil wars, rebellions and armed conflicts from 2600 BCE to today on one map, from Wikidata, the Correlates of War and the Uppsala Conflict Data Program.