List of nuclear weapons tests of the Soviet Union

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The nuclear weapons tests of the Soviet Union were performed between 1949 and 1990 as part of the nuclear arms race. The Soviet Union conducted 715 nuclear tests using 969 total devices by official count, including 219 atmospheric, underwater, and space tests and 124 peaceful use tests. [1] Most of the tests took place at the Southern Test Site in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan and the Northern Test Site at Novaya Zemlya. Other tests took place at various locations within the Soviet Union, including now-independent Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Turkmenistan.

Contents

List

Soviet Union's nuclear testing series summary - Link to world summary of nuclear weapons tests
Series or years Years covered Tests [Summ 1] Devices fired Devices with unknown yield Peaceful use tests Non-PTBT tests [Summ 2] Yield range (kilotons) [Summ 3] Total yield (kilotons) [Summ 4] Notes
1949–1951 1949–1951 33322 to 42 102There were no Soviet tests in 1950.
1953 1953 5552 to 400 440
1954 1954 101010small to 62 122
1955 1955 7770 to 1,600 1,868
1956 1956 999small to 900 1,976
1957 1957 161616small to 2,900 6,239
1958 1958 3636360 to 2,900 16,2521959 and 1960 have no testing, a bilateral moratorium between the USSR and the US, officially beginning 31 Oct 1958.
1961 1961 575756small to 50,000 87,702The USSR ended its participation in the voluntary testing moratorium on 1 September 1961.
K project 1961–1962 5551 to 300 902
1962 1962 787877small to 24,200 140,662The Soviets executed no tests in 1963.
1964 1964 992small to 47 167
1965 1965 141562small to 140 343
1966 1966 1819391 to 700 1,954
1967 1967 172365small to 260 657
1968 1968 1723272small to 165 585
1969 1969 1924996 to 540 906
1970 1970 162177small to 2,200 2,625
1971 1971 2329681small to 2,450 2,926
1972 1972 243189small to 1,120 1,646
1973 1973 172256small to 4,000 8,409
1974 1974 212767small to 2,300 3,750
1975 1975 1935174small to 1,300 4,481
1976 1976 212763small to 130 629
1977 1977 2436137small to 120 552
1978 1978 3155219small to 180 1,290
1979 1979 3152179small to 150 1,474
1980 1980 2443215small to 200 847
1981 1981 2137165small to 150 828
1982 1982 20351382 to 145 1,539
1983 1983 273914100 to 150 778
1984 1984 294515111 to 150 1,330
1985 1985 10191021 to 114 426There was no Soviet testing in 1986.
1987 1987 24401660 to 150 1,145
1988 1988 162992small to 150 905
1989 1989 71144 to 118 308
1990 1990 2940 to 70 70The USSR announced Soviet ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and ended testing on 24 October 1990.
Totals1949-Aug-29 to
1991-May-01 		727 981 248 156 229 0 to 50,000 296,837 Total country yield is 54.9% of all nuclear testing.
  1. ↑ Includes all tests with potential for nuclear fission or fusion explosion, including combat use, singleton tests, salvo tests, zero yield fails, safety experiments, and bombs incapacitated by accidents but still intended to be fired. It does not include hydronuclear and subcritical tests, and misfires of a device which was subsequently fired successfully.
  2. ↑ Number of tests which would have been in violation of the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963, such as atmospheric, space or underwater tests. Some "peaceful use" cratering tests which should have been violations were protested, and later quietly dropped.
  3. ↑ "Small" refers to a value greater than zero but less than 0.5 kt.
  4. ↑ Some yields are described like "< 20 kt"; such are scored at one half of the numeric amount, i.e., yield of 10k in this example. "Unknown yield" adds nothing to the total.

See also

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The Soviet Union's 1972 nuclear test series was a group of 24 nuclear tests conducted in 1972. These tests followed the 1971 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1973 Soviet nuclear tests series.

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The Soviet Union's 1974 nuclear test series was a group of 21 nuclear tests conducted in 1974. These tests followed the 1973 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1975 Soviet nuclear tests series.

The Soviet Union's 1984 nuclear test series was a group of 29 nuclear tests conducted in 1984. These tests followed the 1983 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1985 Soviet nuclear tests series.

The Soviet Union's 1985 nuclear test series was a group of 10 nuclear tests conducted in 1985. These tests followed the 1984 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1987 Soviet nuclear tests series.

The Soviet Union's 1987 nuclear test series was a group of 24 nuclear tests conducted in 1987. These tests followed the 1985 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1988 Soviet nuclear tests series.

The Soviet Union's 1988 nuclear test series was a group of 16 nuclear tests conducted in 1988. These tests followed the 1987 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1989 Soviet nuclear tests series.

The Soviet Union's 1989 nuclear test series was a group of 7 nuclear tests conducted in 1989. These tests followed the 1988 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1990 Soviet nuclear tests series.

References

  1. ↑ Mikhailov, V. N., ed. (1996). "USSR Nuclear Weapons Tests and Peaceful Nuclear Explosions: 1949 through 1990" (PDF). Sarov, Russia: The Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy, and Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-06-22. Official numbers and those in the table differ due to eleven tests, all fizzles, cited in other references and the one bomb left in its shaft when the Russians abandoned the Semipalatinsk site to Kazakhstan.

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