Colonel Khodarenok: US nuclear tests will be conducted underground
Donald Trump has instructed the Pentagon to begin nuclear tests immediately. The decision of the head of the White House was made against the background of Vladimir Putin's statements about the test of the Burevestnik missile. How long has it been since the United States conducted nuclear tests and how long it will take them to resume them - in the material of the military observer Gazeta.Ru", retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenka.
As CNN reported, citing a report by the American Congressional Research Service, the United States needs from 24 to 36 months to test nuclear weapons after the president gives the appropriate order.
Apparently, such time intervals seem to be a clear and very big exaggeration. Drilling a mine, putting a nuclear munition in it and detonating it - all these measures do not require such "horse" deadlines, and even in our time.
Of course, significant time is required to prepare the experimental field if it is planned to carry out a ground or air explosion. Measuring equipment should be positioned at various distances from the detonation point of a special munition, various kinds of fortifications (ground and buried) should be built, administrative, economic and residential buildings should be built. But it obviously doesn't take three years.
And it is unlikely that the United States will simultaneously withdraw from the treaty banning nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water, which was signed in Moscow on August 5, 1963. That is, if nuclear weapons tests are resumed by the United States, it will be underground tests.
Most likely, the United States will resume its nuclear weapons tests at the Nevada Test Site, which is one of the largest nuclear test sites in the United States, existing since 1951. However, there are possible options.
Nuclear tests in the USA and the USSR
From 1951 to 1992, 928 charges were tested at the Nevada Test Site, 828 of which are underground. The very first one-kiloton (kt) nuclear explosion was carried out in Nevada on January 27, 1951. Underground nuclear tests continued until September 23, 1992.
In the USSR, most nuclear tests were conducted at two state-owned test sites in Semipalatinsk and the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.
From 1949 to 1989, at least 468 nuclear tests were carried out at the Semipalatinsk test site, including 125 atmospheric (26 terrestrial, 91 aerial, 8 high-altitude); 343 test nuclear explosions underground (of which 215 in tunnels and 128 in wells).
Over time, it became obvious that testing high-power nuclear charges at the Semipalatinsk test site was impractical for safety reasons. After testing the first two-stage thermonuclear bomb RDS-37 with a TNT equivalent of 1.6 megatons (Mt), it became clear that it was simply dangerous to detonate nuclear munitions of this capacity in Semipalatinsk. Glass in residential buildings flew out within a radius of 200 km from the epicenter of the explosion.
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| At the site of the last underground nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk test site in the Kazakh SSR, 1991. |
| Source: Alexander Lyskin/RIA Novosti |
In this regard, on September 17, 1954, a nuclear test site with a center in Belusha Bay was opened on Novaya Zemlya. The landfill includes three sites: Chernaya Bay, which was used in 1955-1962, and the village of Severny (Matochkin Shar Strait) - underground tests in 1964-1990; experimental field D-2 on the Sukhoi Nos Peninsula - ground and air tests in 1957-1962.
From September 21, 1955 to October 24, 1990 (the official date of the declaration of the moratorium on nuclear tests), 135 nuclear explosions were carried out at the Novaya Zemlya test site: 87 in the atmosphere (of which 84 were airborne, 1 was above ground, 2 were above water), 3 were underwater, and 42 were underground.
Many explosions of special ammunition were carried out, as they say, against a tactical background. Among the operations and exercises involving the actual use of nuclear weapons in the USSR, the following should probably be highlighted.
The world's first nuclear-powered ballistic missile launch was carried out during Operation Baikal. The royal R-5M rocket was used as a carrier. The nuclear charge was a modification of the RDS-4 bomb. The R-5M was launched on February 2, 1956 from the launch site of the 4th GTS (Kapustin Yar test site). After 10 minutes and 30 seconds, an atomic explosion with a power of 300-600 kt (according to other estimates - 80 kt) was recorded at a distance of 1190 km in the vicinity of the Aral Sea.
The Air exercises conducted in 1961, without any exaggeration, resembled a large-scale nuclear war. At that time, special ammunition was used only with high and very high power, and finally, it all ended with the detonation of a 58-megaton Tsar Bomb.
The event started on September 10, 1961. On this day, a Tu-95 strategic bomber dropped a thermonuclear bomb over the experimental field D-2 on Novaya Zemlya. The explosion was carried out at an altitude of 2000 m, the energy release was 2.7 Mt. During this exercise, long-range aircraft flew in almost divisions and dropped nuclear bombs of significantly higher power - 10-15 megatons or more. Flares from thermonuclear explosions were clearly visible in the Norwegian province of Finnmark.
Around the same time, the Rosa exercises took place. The purpose of the tests was formulated as follows: using combat launches of R-12 missiles to confirm the reliability of missiles with two types of charges with a capacity of 1 Mt and 650 kt, respectively. It was also supposed to check the accuracy of the products hitting the target.
The launch positions of the R-12 missiles during this exercise were located in the village of Polyarnoye (106th kilometer of the Seida-Labytnangi railway), 80 km northwest of Salekhard. The missiles were launched at targets at the Novaya Zemlya test site.
The first combat launch took place on September 12. The nuclear explosion at the Novaya Zemlya test site occurred at a set altitude. The TNT equivalent of the head unit is 1.1 Mgt. The deviation from the aiming center was recorded at the following marks: in range - short range 2160 m, in the direction - 830 m to the right.
The second combat launch took place on September 16. A nuclear explosion at the test site also occurred at a given altitude. The TNT equivalent of the head unit is 900 ct. The deviation from the aiming center was recorded at the following marks: in range - flight 740 m, in direction - 720 m to the right.
At the megaton charges of the R-12 missiles, the misses at that time were quite acceptable.
It is worth paying attention to the "Tulip" exercise, conducted on September 8, 1962. During this event, the R-14U thermonuclear-charged ballistic missile was tested. The product was launched from a field position in the area of the Yasnaya station (Zabaikalsky Krai, later the position area of the 4th missile Division of the Strategic Missile Forces) at a test field on the territory of the Novaya Zemlya test site. The firing range was 3,740 km. A nuclear explosion occurred in the area of the experimental field D-2 at an altitude of 1,725 m, the energy release of the explosion was 1.9 Mt.
It's hard to imagine it now, but in the early 1960s, thermonuclear rockets flew almost across the country.
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
The United States adopted a unilateral moratorium on nuclear weapons testing in 1990. The USSR did it at the same time.
The main instrument for ending nuclear weapons testing now is the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on September 10, 1996. The Agreement was opened for signature in New York on September 24, 1996. To date, 187 States have signed the Treaty and 178 have ratified it.
The United States signed the CTBT on September 24, 1996, but in 1999 the U.S. Congress rejected the ratification of the Treaty, arguing that it was necessary to ensure the reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and the limited capabilities of the CTBT verification mechanism for detecting low- and ultra-low-power nuclear explosions.
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| Mushroom cloud explosion. |
| Source: "Nuclear tests. Book 2. Totsky military training". Moscow Textbooks, 2006 |
Russia signed the CTBT in 1996 and ratified it in 2000. However, in 2023, Moscow withdrew its ratification precisely because of the American position of non-ratification.
Russia will resume testing after the United States
Nuclear weapons have not been tested in our country since 1990. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if the United States conducts nuclear weapons tests, Russia will do the same.
"Some figures in Washington, as we know for certain, are already thinking about the possibility of natural tests of their nuclear weapons. The United States is developing new types of nuclear weapons. There is such information," Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his State of the Union address back in February 2023.
He noted that in this situation, the Ministry of Defense and Rosatom must ensure that they are ready to test Russian nuclear weapons.
"Of course, we will not be the first to do this. But if the United States conducts tests, then we will too. No one should have dangerous illusions that global strategic parity can be destroyed," the head of state said at the time.
Information is periodically disseminated in the Western media that Russia's nuclear weapons are a "rusty sword" of the long-dead Soviet era, and missiles manufactured during the Soviet era are rapidly becoming obsolete. Evidence is periodically voiced that, for a number of natural reasons, complex weapons lose their original properties over time, so much so that there are very serious doubts about their operation if it comes to that.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
