The figures throughout this chapter are approximate and based on official government sources, as well as on information provided by research institutions such as the Natural Resources Defence Council in Washington D.C., and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

For the purposes of this chapter, a nuclear test is defined as a nuclear explosion detonated for either military or peaceful purposes. Of the nearly 2,050 nuclear explosions detonated between 1945-1996, over 150 were for peaceful purposes.

The history of nuclear testing began early on the morning of 16 July 1945 at a desert test site in Alamogordo, New Mexico when the United States exploded its first atomic bomb. Designated as the Trinity Site, this initial test was the culmination of years of scientific research under the banner of the so-called “Manhattan Project”.