This article contains a list of nuclear weapon explosion sites used across the world. It includes nuclear test sites, nuclear combat sites, launch sites for rockets forming part of a nuclear test, and peaceful nuclear test (PNE) sites. There are a few non-nuclear sites included, such as the Degelen Omega chemical blast sites, which are intimately involved with nuclear testing. Listed with each is an approximate location and coordinate link for viewing through GeoHack, and each site is linked to a Wikipedia page on the locality or the nuclear event(s) that occurred there.
+ Nuclear combat, test, launch and PNE sites Country Site location Site name Approx. coordinates Notes United States
The first nuclear power. White Sands Missile Range, New MexicoTrinity Site A bombing range and more lately a missile range centered in the south near Las Cruces, an area in the north part of the range was acquired during World War II and used for the Trinity test. An area near the Trinity site is designated the Permanent High Explosive Test Site (PHETS) and was used in the 1980s to host very large ANFO blasts for international testing of military gear. The Trinity nuclear site was originally private property taken over by the Army to test the plutonium implosion weapon, the first nuclear explosion on Earth. World War II Combat ZoneHiroshima, Japan The first target of nuclear weapons, the Mark I atomic bomb. The target was the Aioi Bridge across the Ōta River; it exploded several hundred yards off. Hiroshima was a city of 250,000, suffering 70,000 or so deaths immediately and up to 126,000 by the end of the year. Nagasaki, Japan The second target of nuclear weapons, Nagasaki was a city of 240,000 swelled to 263,000 on the day of the strike, chosen when the primary target, Kokura, was found clouded over. About 40,000 died immediately, and officially 73,884 died altogether. 74,909 were injured. Hillier than Hiroshima, the 33% increase in yield from Little Boy resulted in slightly fewer casualties. Pacific Proving GroundsBikini Atoll An atoll in the Marshall Islands, Bikini's lagoon was chosen as the site for the first nuclear test area after WWII. Its use ended with the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which forbade atmospheric testing. Enewetak Atoll The second atoll used for nuclear testing by the US. Near Bikini Atoll, they served as each other's alternate area. Pacific Ocean Three US tests were performed in the open ocean away from all islands: Wigwam, Swordfish and Frigate Bird. Johnston Atoll A small, isolated atoll closest to Hawaii (500 km), Johnston Island served the US testing efforts as an airbase for Operation Dominic and as a rocket base for Operation Hardtack II and Operation Fishbowl. Kiritimati, Kiribati Formerly known as Christmas Island (the Pacific one, not the one in the Indian Ocean) Kiritimati was used as an air base for bombers dropping nuclear tests mostly south of the island. It hosted most of the Operation Dominic drops as well as most of Britain's Operation Grapple. Nevada National Security Site (formerly known as Nevada Test Site, NTS) A nuclear test site carved out of the Nevada Test and Training Range in Nye County, Nevada in 1952. Roughly the size of Rhode Island, it contains many terrains in which various bombs can be tested. Frenchman Flat, Areas 5, 11 Frenchman Flat was the first area at the NTS used, mostly for drop tests. A small city of structures, a pine forest and multiple cars, trucks and military vehicles were positioned on the salt flat for tests. It is the original "Doom Town". Yucca Flat, Areas 1–4, 6-10 The heaviest used test area in the NTS, used early for atmospheric, tower, balloon and crater tests, later for bore-hole tests. The latter are responsible for the large number of subsidence craters for which the area is known. Area 13 An area of the NTS which was used for only one zero-yield dispersion test. The area was returned to the Nellis Range, and the subject of considerable cleanup efforts for dispersed plutonium. Rainier Mesa, Area 12 The area in which the butte terrain is very amenable for underground horizontal tunnel testing. Contains over a dozen large tunnel complexes and a couple of bore-hole tests. Pahute Mesa, Area 19-20 The farthest north of the NTS areas, this area was used mainly for bore-hole testing in hard rock and hard cap rock situations. It hosted at least one hard rock cratering blast. Jackass Flat, Area 26 A large area in the NTS southwest. It was not used for nuclear testing, but contains the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, the MX missile mobile test site, the NERVA nuclear rocket test facilities, the BREN Tower, and the X tunnel facility in which depleted uranium weapons were tested. Many of these facilities have been torn down and removed. Dome Mountain, Area 30 A mountainous area used for only one Operation Plowshare test, Buggy, in which five bombs in a row were fired in salvo, as a test of trench cutting using nukes. Area 15 An area in the NTS in which three tests were executed. It is the site of the EPA's dairy farm which measured cow uptake of fission products, and the old Climax silver mine. Adjacent to the infamous Area 51, on its east edge. Shoshone Mountain, Area 16 An area containing a single horizontal tunnel complex used for six separate nuclear tests. It is also the site for the Divine Strake conventional blast experiment, which was aborted by public protests. Tonopah Test Range (aka Area 52) The area owned by the Air Force as the Tonopah Test Range, in which conventional bombs and tactics are evaluated. In 1963, four nuclear dispersion tests in the Roller Coaster series were executed on Tonopah Range land. South Atlantic Ocean An area of the South Atlantic Ocean was used in the Argus tests, three rocket launches with small devices to explode in the ionosphere to test electron injection into the magnetosphere as a defensive weapon against enemy ICBM command and control. Central Nevada A site for the underground testing of large (5 Mt) weapons was sought, since the NTS alluvial valley wasn't suitable, by testing with a 1 Mt "calibration" weapon. The Faultless shot showed central Nevada to be too unstable. The search then turned to Amchitka Island in Alaska. Amchitka Island Amchitka Island in the Aleutian Islands chain was an alternate site for the underground testing of large nuclear warheads. Used for the Vela Uniform test Long Shot, it was tested for the larger role when Faultless in central Nevada proved that area unsuitable. The Millrow test showed suitability, and the island was used for the 5 Mt Cannikin test, the largest underground test ever performed. Plowshare SitesCarlsbad, New Mexico The site of the "Gnome" Plowshare project. It is southwest of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. Farmington, New Mexico A site near Farmington, New Mexico hosted the Gas Buggy shot, an attempt to frac for natural gas. Parachute, Colorado A site near Rifle, Colorado was used to explode three nuclear devices simultaneously, hoping to create a reservoir in which oil and natural gas could collect. The test was named Rio Blanco. Rifle, Colorado The Rulison test was an attempt to frac shale and release gas and oil. Lawrence Livermore National Lab, CA The US's second national nuclear laboratory, LLNL designed weapons and did explosive, sub-critical testing in the hills west of the lab buildings. Vela Uniform verification sites A set of tests designed to allow scientists to get calibrated seismic and other data from known shots for the purposes of nuclear testing detection and verification. Later, the verification was to determine that tests could be detected by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization protocols, and in calibrating their equipment. Salmon Site, Lumberton, Mississippi An underground salt dome site which was used for two separate Vela Uniform project tests. Rainier Mesa One of the tunnels in the Rainier Mesa complex was used to fire a verification test. Fallon, Nevada A Vela shot, named Shoal, was fired in a bore hole near Fallon, Nevada. Balapan The US mission to Kazakhstan set off a series of explosions in unused bore holes for Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty calibration. Degelen (Omega) The US mission to Kazakhstan set off a series of explosions in an unused tunnel for Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty calibration, and as test precursors for the eventual destruction of all tunnels in Degelen, known as the Omega series. Los Alamos, New MexicoTech Area 49 The US's first national laboratory, Los Alamos was created secretly during World War II to build the first nuclear weapon. During the 1958 moratorium on nuclear testing, a number of sub-critical tests were performed underground to learn more about the dynamics of explosions and the metallurgy of plutonium. The US's first nuclear weapons lab, founded in the Manhattan Project in high secrecy. Tech Area 49 is an open area south of the lab, where zero-yield tests were executed in shallow bore holes during the 1958 moratorium. Soviet Union The second nuclear power. Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakhstan The first Soviet nuclear test ground, used for all kinds of atmospheric and underground testing, as well as sub-critical tests. Ground Zero The first area of the Semipalatinsk Test Site to be used. Tower, ground and air dropped weapons were tested there. Sary Uzen/Murzhik An area used to test a score or so bore-hole emplaced weapons. Some zero-yield testing was done there as well. Degelen A mountain massif in the Kazakh plains, Degelen was bored with a hundred or so test tunnels. It was the site for the majority of the zero-yield testing at Semipalatinsk. After being returned to Kazakhstan, the tunnels were closed, then more permanently closed to discourage metal thievery. Balapan Balapan was the site of most of the Soviet bore-hole tests. It was also the site of the Chagan massive cratering test, which created Lake Chagan. Novaya Zemlya, Arkhangelsk, Russia The second Soviet nuclear test site, specializing in the very large air dropped tests, including the largest ever, Tsar Bomba. A: Chyornaya Guba (Black Bay) The southern end of Novaya Zemlya has been the location for a number of underwater, tower and rocket drop tests of nuclear weapons. Rogachevo Air Base is also located in the area, the launch area for several of nuclear armed missiles targeted north on Sukhoy Nos. B: Matochin Shar (Matochin Strait) A mountainous area (on the south side of the north end of the strait which names the test area) is used for horizontal tunnel testing and zero-yield testing. It is still in use for the latter today. C: Sukhoy Nos (Dry Nose) The area on the north side of Matochin Strait, used for air and rocket tests of massive blasts. The Tsar Bomba was tested here. The name refers to the land that forms the peninsula on the north side of the west end of the strait. Kapustin Yar The first Soviet missile launch and test area. From the original V-2 rocket launch area almost a dozen nuclear armed missiles were launched to explode over Sary Sagan, Central and West Kazakhstan and the Volgograd Oblast (region in Russia). Kola Launch Area A launch area in the Barents Sea between the Kola peninsula and Novaya Zemlya. Orenburg, Russia The site of a Soviet Army exercise which included a live nuclear blast. Karagandy, Kazakhstan Karagandy had four of the Project K nuclear rockets explode in space above its soil. Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan Kyzylorda was the location over which the 5th Project K rocket propelled bomb exploded. It also hosts the Baikonur Cosmodrome, uninvolved in nuclear testing. West Kazakhstan West Kazakhstan hosted at least three high altitude detonations, USSR #s 82 and 83, and ZUR-215, all on rockets from Kapustin Yar. Komi, Russia