Template:Milestone nuclear explosions

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[edit] Milestone nuclear explosions

The following list is of milestone nuclear explosions. In addition to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the first nuclear test of a given weapon type for a country is included, and tests which were otherwise notable (such as the largest test ever). All yields (explosive power) are given in their estimated energy equivalents in kilotons of TNT (see megaton).

Date	Name	Yield (kT)	Country	Significance
16 Jul 1945	Trinity	19	USA	First fission device test, first plutonium implosion detonation
6 Aug 1945	Little Boy	15	USA	Bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, first detonation of an enriched uranium gun-type device
9 Aug 1945	Fat Man	21	USA	Bombing of Nagasaki, Japan
29 Aug 1949	RDS-1	22	USSR	First fission weapon test by the USSR
3 Oct 1952	Hurricane	25	UK	First fission weapon test by the UK
1 Nov 1952	Ivy Mike	10,400	USA	First "staged" thermonuclear weapon test (not deployable)
12 Aug 1953	Joe 4	400	USSR	First fusion weapon test by the USSR (not "staged", but deployable)
1 Mar 1954	Castle Bravo	15,000	USA	First deployable "staged" thermonuclear weapon; fallout accident where some people were radiation-poisoned
22 Nov 1955	RDS-37	1,600	USSR	First "staged" thermonuclear weapon test by the USSR (deployable)
8 Nov 1957	Grapple X	1,800	UK	First (successful) "staged" thermonuclear weapon test by the UK
13 Feb 1960	Gerboise Bleue	70	France	First fission weapon test by France
31 Oct 1961	Tsar Bomba	50,000	USSR	Largest thermonuclear weapon ever tested
16 Oct 1964	596	22	PR China	First fission weapon test by the People's Republic of China
17 Jun 1967	Test No. 6	3,300	PR China	First "staged" thermonuclear weapon test by the People's Republic of China
24 Aug 1968	Canopus	2,600	France	First "staged" thermonuclear test by France
18 May 1974	Smiling Buddha	12	India	First fission nuclear explosive test by India
11 May 1998	Shakti I	43	India	First potential fusion/boosted weapon test by India (exact yields disputed, between 25kt and 45kt)
11 May 1998	Shakti II	12	India	First deployable fission weapon test by India
28 May 1998	Chagai-I	9-12	Pakistan	First fission weapon test by Pakistan.
9 Oct 2006	Hwadae-ri	<1	North Korea	First fission device tested by North Korea; resulted as a fizzle

"Deployable" refers to whether the device tested could be hypothetically used in actual combat (in contrast with a proof-of-concept device). "Staging" refers to whether it was a "true" hydrogen bomb of the so-called Teller-Ulam configuration or simply a form of a boosted fission weapon. For a more complete list of nuclear test series, see List of nuclear tests. Some exact yield estimates, such as that of the Tsar Bomba and the tests by India and Pakistan in 1998, are somewhat contested among specialists.