Nuclear Explosions Map — Every Known Nuclear Test from 1945 to 2017
This interactive 3D globe displays over 2,000 known nuclear explosions conducted since the Trinity test in July 1945. Each point marks a detonation site, sized by its estimated yield and colored by the country that carried it out. Click any marker to see its date, yield, type of detonation, depth and purpose.
Nuclear Testing by Country
- United States — over 1,000 explosions, mainly at the Nevada Test Site and in the Pacific.
- Soviet Union — over 700 explosions, mostly at Semipalatinsk and Novaya Zemlya.
- France — 210 explosions in the Algerian Sahara and French Polynesia.
- United Kingdom and China — 45 explosions each.
- India, Pakistan and North Korea — the most recent nuclear-armed states to test.
Atmospheric vs. Underground Tests
Early nuclear tests were often conducted in the atmosphere, on towers, barges or dropped from aircraft. The 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty moved most testing underground, and the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) led most nuclear powers to stop testing entirely.
Data Source
The nuclear explosion data are primarily based on Bergkvist and Ferm (2000), Nuclear Explosions 1945–1998, a report produced by the Swedish Defence Research Establishment (FOA) in cooperation with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). More recent nuclear tests were manually added to extend the dataset.
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