List of nuclear weapons tests of France explained
France executed nuclear weapons tests in the areas of Reggane and In Ekker in Algeria and the Mururoa and Fangataufa Atolls in French Polynesia, from 13 February 1960 through 27 January 1996. These totaled 210 tests with 210 device explosions, 50 in the atmosphere.[1]
List
France's nuclear testing series summary | - !style="background:#ffdead;" | Series or years !style="background:#efefef;" | Years covered !style="background:#ffdead;" | Tests[2] !style="background:#efefef;" | Devices fired !style="background:#ffdead;" | Devices with unknown yield !style="background:#efefef;" | Peaceful use tests !style="background:#ffdead;" | Non-PTBT tests[3] !style="background:#efefef;" class="unsortable" | Yield range (kilotons) [4] !style="background:#ffdead;" | Total yield (kilotons) [5] !style="background:#efefef; text-align:center;" class="unsortable" | Notes | | 1960 | | | | | | 1 to 65 | | | | 1961 - 1966 | | | | | | 0 to 127 | | | | 1966–1970 | | | | | | 0 to 2,600 | | | | 1971–1974 | | | | | | 0 to 955 | | | | 1975–1978 | | | | | | 0 to 64 | | | | 1979–1980 | | | | | | 0 to 112 | | | | 1981–1982 | | | | | | 0 to 56 | | | | 1983–1985 | | | | | | 0,25 to 80 | | | | 1986–1988 | | | | | | 2 to 103 | | | | 1989–1991 | | | | | | 0 to 118 | | | | 1995–1996 | | | | | | 8 to 120 | | | - class="sortbottom" !style="background:#efefef;" | Totals | 1960, Feb 13 to 1996, Jan 27 | 210 | 210 | | 4 | 55 | 0 to 2,600 | 13,567 | Total country yield is 2.5% of all nuclear testing. | |
See also
Sources
- Yang. Xiaoping. Robert. North. Carl. Romney. August 2000. CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3). SMDC Monitoring Research.
- Web site: Catalog of Worldwide Nuclear Testing . Mikhailov . V.N. . LA . Andryushi . N.P. . Voloshin . R.I. . Ilkaev . A.M. . Matushchenko . L.D. . Ryabev . V.G. . Strukov . A.K. . Chernyshev . Yu.A. . Yudin . 2013-03-04 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131219131618/http://www.iss-atom.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/ . 2013-12-19 .
- Johnston Archive of Nuclear Weapons. Wm Robert Johnston, PhD. 2013-12-31.
Notes and References
- Security Dialog. 27. 1. 39 - 54. French and Chinese Nuclear Weapons Testing. Robert S.. Norris. Sage Publications. 1996. 10.1177/0967010696027001006. 144681530. August 16, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20130124025211/http://docs.nrdc.org/nuclear/files/nuc_01009601a_006.pdf. January 24, 2013. dead. Discrepancies between those totals and the table below consist in two undocumented tests mentioned in other sources and five safety tests in an area near In Ekker named Adar Tickertane.
- 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.
- 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.
- "Small" refers to a value greater than zero but less than 0.5 kt.
- 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.
