Abstract
Nuclear pursuits by Robert S. Norris & Hans M. Kristensen
| United States | U.S.S.R./Russia | Britain | France | China | |
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| Warheads in stockpile (2003) | 7,650 active, ∼3,000 reserve or awaiting disassembly | 8,200 active, ∼10,000 reserve or awaiting disassembly | 200 | 350 | 400 |
| Peak number of warheads/year | 32,500/1967 | 45,000/1986 | 410/1969 | 540/1993 | 450/1993 |
| Total number of warheads built, years | 70,000 1945-1992 | 55,000 1949-2003 | 1,200 1952-2001 | 1,260 1960-2003 | 750 1964-2003 |
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| Atomic bomb developers | Leslie R. Groves, J. Robert Oppenheimer | Igor V. Kurchatov, Yuli B. Khariton, Boris L. Vannikov, Avraami P. Zaveniagin | William G. Penney, John Cockcroft, Christopher Hinton | Pierre Guillau-mat, Charles Ailleret, Yves Rocard | Nie Rongzhen, Liu Jie, Deng Jiaxian |
| Hydrogen bomb developers | Stanislaw Ulam, Edward Teller, Richard Garwin | Andrei Sakharov, Yuli B. Khariton, Yakov B. Zeldovich | William Cook, Bryan Taylor, John Corner, Keith Roberts | Michel Carayol, Pierre Billaud, Luc Dagens | Deng Jiaxian, Yu Min, Peng Huanwu |
| First operational ICBM | Oct. 31, 1959 Atlas D | Jan. 20, 1960 SS-6 Sapwood | none | Aug. 2, 1971 S-2 IRBM | August 1981 Dong Feng-5 |
| First SSN enters service, vessel name | January 1955 Nautilus | August 1958 November | April 1963 Dreadnought | January 1971 he Redoutable | 1974 Han |
| First SSBN patrol with Polaris-type SLBM, vessel, missile name | Nov. 15, 1960 G. Washington, Polaris Al | 1968 Navaga/Yankee, SS-N-6 Serb | June 1968 Resolution, Polaris A3 | Jan. 28, 1972 he Redoutable, Ml | 1986 Xia, Julang-1 |
| First MIRVed missile deployed | Aug. 19, 1970 Minuteman III | Dec. 25, 1974 SS-18 Satan; April 26, 1975 SS-19 Stiletto | December 1994 Trident II SLBM | April 1985 M-4A SLBM | none |
| First warhead deployed without live nuclear test | B-61 Mod-11, 1996 | unknown | unknown | TNO/ASMP-A, 2007 (pending) | unknown |
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| Number of nuclear tests/detonations | 1,030/1,125 | 715/969 | 45/45 | 210/unknown | 45/unknown |
| First fission test, type, yield | July 16, 1945 plutonium, 21 kt | Aug. 29, 1949 plutonium, 22 kt | Oct. 3, 1952 plutonium, 25 kt | Feb. 13, 1960 plutonium, 60-70 kt | Oct. 16, 1964 uranium 235, 20 kt |
| First test of boosted fission weapon, yield | May 8, 1951 Item, 46 kt | Aug. 12, 1953 Joe 4, RDS-6c, 400 kt | June 19, 1956 Mosaic/G2, 60 kt | Sept. 24, 1966 Rigel, 150 kt | May 9, 1966 ∼200 kt |
| First two-stage thermonuclear test, yield | Oct. 31, 1952 Mike, 10.4 Mt | Nov. 22, 1955 RDS-37, 1.6 Mt | Nov. 11, 1957 Grapple X, 1.8 Mt | Aug. 24, 1968 Can opus, 2.6 Mt | June 17, 1967 3Mt |
| Months from first fission bomb to first multistage thermonuclear bomb | 87 | 75 | 61 | 102 | 32 |
| First nuclear airdrop, aircraft used, yield | Aug. 6, 1946 B-29, 15 kt | Oct. 18, 1951 Tu-4, 42 kt | Oct. 11, 1956 Valiant, 3 kt | July 19, 1966 Mirage IV-A, 60 kt | May 14, 1965 Hong 6, 35-40 kt |
| Atmospheric tests, including underwater | 215 | 219 | 21 | 45 (five were zero-yield safety tests) | 23 |
| Total Mts expended atmospheric/underground | 141/38 | 247/38 | 8/0.9 | 10/4 | 21.9/1.5 |
| Largest atmospheric test, yield | Feb. 28, 1954 Bravo, 15 Mt | Oct. 30, 1961 50 Mt | April 28, 1958 Grapple Y, 3 Mt | Aug. 24, 1968 Canopus, 2.6 Mt | Nov. 17, 1976 4Mt |
| Last atmospheric test | Nov. 4, 1962 | Dec. 25, 1962 | Sept. 23, 1958 | Sept. 15, 1974 | Oct. 15, 1980 |
| First underground test | July 26, 1957 | Oct. 11, 1961 | March 1, 1962 | Nov. 7, 1961 | Sept. 23, 1969 |
| Largest underground test, yield | Nov. 6, 1971 5Mt | Oct. 27, 1973 2.8-4 Mt | Dec. 5, 1985 <150 kt | July 25, 1979 120 kt | May 21, 1992 660 kt |
| Last test | Sept. 23, 1992 | Oct. 24, 1990 | Nov. 26, 1991 | Jan. 27, 1996 | July 29, 1996 |
| Major test sites, (number of tests) | Nevada (901), Enewetak (43), Bikini (23), Christmas Island (24) | Semipalatinsk (456), Novaya Zemlya (130) | Nevada (24), Australia (12), Christmas Island (6), Maiden Island (3) | Algeria (17), Mururoa (175), Fangataufa (12) | Lop Nur (45) |
| First computer-simulated test | 2001, 12 teraflops White computer at LLNL, fully coupled primary and secondary explosion | unknown | Pending; 3 teraflops Blue Oak computer at AWE Burghfield | Pending; 5 teraflops Tera computer at DAM-Ile de France Center, Bruyeres-le-Chatel | unknown |
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| Assembly and disassembly plants | Pantex, near Amarillo, Texas | Avangard, Sarov (Arzamas-16), Lesnoy (Sverdlovsk-45), Trekh-gorny (Zlatoust-36), Zarechny (Penza-19) | AWE Burghfield, near Reading | Centre d'Etudes de Valduc, in Cote d'Or | Zitong, in Sichuan |
| Plutonium and tritium production sites, number of reactors | Hanford, 9∗; Savannah River, 5∗; Watts Bar, 1; Se-quoyah, 1 (tritium) | Ozersk (Chelyabinsk-65), 6∗; Seversk (Tomsk-7), 2, 3∗; Zheleznogorsk (Krasnoyarsk-26), 1, 2∗ | Calder Hall, 4; Chapelcross, 4; Windscale, 2∗ | Marcoule, 3∗; Chinon, 2∗; Bugey, 1∗ Phènix, 1; Celestin, 2∗ | Jiuquan, in Gansu, 1; Guangyuan, in Sichuan, 1 |
| Uranium enrichment plants | Oak Ridge,∗ Portsmouth,∗ Paducah | Angarsk, Novouralsk (Sverdlovsk-44), Seversk (Tomsk-7), Zelenogorsk (Krasnoyarsk-45) | Capenhurst∗ | Pierrelatte∗ | Lanzhou, in Gansu; Heping, in Sichuan |
| Chief design labs | LANL, New Mexico; LLNL, California; Sandia, New Mexico and California | Sarov (Arzamas-16), Snezhinsk (Chelyabinsk-70), Institute of Automatics in Moscow | Aldermaston, near Reading | Centre d'Etudes de Bruyeres-le-Chatel | Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), Mianyang, in Sichuan |
| Current directors and administrators | Spencer Abraham, energy secretary; Linton Brooks, NNSA administrator; Pete Nanos, LANL acting director; Michael R. Anastasio, LLNL director; C. Paul Robinson, Sandia director and president | Alexander Rumyantsev, atomic energy minister; Radii I. Ilkayev, Sarov director; Georgii N. Rykovanov, Snezhinsk director | Willy Bach, undersecretary of state and minister for defence procurement; Bill Haight, AWE managing director | Alain Bugat, CEA general administrator; Alain Delpuech, CEA director of military applications | Cao Gangchuan, director of General Armament Department (People's Liberation Army); Zhu Zulang, director of CAEP |
No longer operational. AWE, Atomic Weapons Establishment; CEA, Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique; kt, kiloton(s);