Nuclear Testing Sites Around The World And Their Stories

Nuclear weaponry is one of the deadliest WMD (weapons of mass destruction). The world has witnessed many extremely serious impacts of WMD in the balance of the whole world.

The world has witnessed many large nuclear tests.

However, countries are still developing nuclear weapons just in case.

Nuclear testing sites are located in many places worldwide in which countries can test their nuclear weapons’ effectiveness. But most people do not know about such spots.

Also, they get extremely little attention!

Let’s see various nuclear testing sites and their relevant stories.

Weapons of mass destruction

Land, water, and air: The consequences are extreme 

The United States holds the first position in the top countries to have carried out the largest number of nuclear tests of 1,032 in total. Russia ranks second with 715 tests in total.

However, not all nuclear tests were carried out by letting a nuclear warhead hit the land. They even do not have to touch the land to detonate.

There were, in fact, 528 detonations carried out in the air. But, this way did not cause less damage than a conventional ground test because a large quantity of radioactive particles was spread to many places through the atmosphere.

As ground and air detonations are proven to make radioactive materials distribute to other places, underwater and underground detonations were used for new nuclear weapon testing.

Most notorious testing sites worldwide and their stories

Here is the list of some nuclear testing sites worldwide that clearly show the repeated nuclear testing’s consequences.

1. Amchitka Island

Amchitka Island is located in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. It was a nuclear testing side for Hydrogen bombs of America. Amchitka Island has undergone only three nuclear tests, however, they have caused many consequences.

The first test carried out in Amchitka was called the Long Shot, a bomb with 80 kiloton yield. The second test was a bomb which was 10 times more powerful than the first one called the Milrow.

After these nuclear tests, the environmentalists flagged the Amchitka Island for radioactive waste leakage which was strongly criticized by the Pentagon and AEC.

However, the Cannikin was the third test that the Pentagon or the AEC couldn’t have predicted.

It was done on 6th November in 1791, which was 385 times more powerful than the historic one dropping on Hiroshima.

This test led to an earthquake that reached 7 on the Richter Scale. And the explosion formed a 60-foot crater on the site and killed a massive number of birds, otters, and many other mammals.

In addition, according to blood samples collected from Aleuts, local people of a neighboring village Adak have high Cesium-137 and tritium levels, kinds of carcinogens, in their blood through the body. And there are still further effects left.

Particularly, the radiations affected over 1,500 workers participating in building this testing site. This nuclear testing site was closed in 1971.

2. The Pacific Ocean

The Marshall Islands were considered a main location for nuclear testing of the U.S. in which many detonations on underwater, in the atmosphere and on land were carried out. One of the bombs which were dropped in the Pacific Proving Grounds was called the Bravo Bomb. It is the strongest thermonuclear nuclear bomb that the U.S. has ever made.

The bomb exploded with the tremendous destructive power of 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. With the explosion of this bomb in the year of 1954, other nearby islands were heavily affected with the fallout, which resulted in the radiation spread that forced 167 people living in these nearby islands to leave.

After 24 years of the detonation, the marine and plant life in these islands still had an alarming radiation amount, according to a test carried out in 1978. In the period of 1977-1979, there were 4,000 America soldiers sent to these islands to remove remaining toxins in the 43 nuclear testing sites in the Pacific Proving Grounds.

But, many of these soldiers had serious illnesses later like cancer as well as various health conditions including brittle bones. Even their children were reported to be born with many birth defects.

This testing site has witnessed 105 tests in total and it has no one to live around these nearby islands.

3. Semipalatinsk

The Soviet Union set up its testing site in Semipalatinsk (or Polygon) placed northeast to Kazakhstan. The site has witnessed 456 tests in total.

But when the Soviet Union commenced its testing bombs for the first time, they did not care about the local people living in the nearby areas, which caused roughly 1.5 million residents in Kazakhstan to be affected by the nuclear radiation.

Accordingly, many people had cancer and various types of serious diseases. After the Soviet Union’s testing bombs, Kazakhstan became a separate nation.

In addition, many nuclear wastes which were intended to be removed were abandoned at that time. Then, people collected the remaining mental parts for earning money, resulting in the radiation spread throughout the region.

The scientists from the Kazakh and the U.S conducted a secret operation to decontaminate the nuclear wastes here in 17 years. This testing site was closed in 1991.

4. North Korea

The nuclear testing site in North Korea was called the Punggye-ri that was closed on April 20, 2018, because a large area here became unstable due to repeatedly conducted nuclear tests. It is known that the last nuclear test led to an earthquake that registered 6.3 on the Richter scale.

There were four other earthquakes happening a week later, which caused a large area of the site to fall down near vertically. And because this site is just 100 kilometers away from the border of China, this country’s government has built its guard up when it came to the North Korean’s unpredictable military nature.

Final thoughts

The nuclear weapons can undoubtedly wipe out an entire city, even a nation when an attack happens. Even their testing and development have caused just misery and pain.

Nowadays, because nations around the world signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-ban Treaty, excluding North Korea, there is no any information about nuclear testing more. It raises our hopes about a peaceful and prosperous future without nuclear weapons.