Since the first nuclear test explosion on July 16, 1945, at least eight nations have detonated 2,056 nuclear test explosions at dozens of test sites around the world. The United States was the first and only country to use a nuclear weapon in times of war and has conducted more tests than the rest of the world. Russia was the second nation to conduct nuclear tests, and China is widely believed to be assisting Pakistan with its nuclear efforts. India declared that it could produce nuclear weapons in 18 months and tested a device of up to 15 kilotons in 1974. In response to India's tests, Pakistan announced that it had detonated six underground devices in the Chagai region.
Recognizing that even underground testing caused serious damage, the international community adopted the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996. This treaty bans any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion and established an international test monitoring and verification system. The United States ended all underground nuclear tests in the early 1990s, on the eve of the CTBT, despite protests from the heads of the country's three national weapons laboratories. At BEEF, researchers at the Large Explosives Experimental Facility hold (non-nuclear) materials found in nuclear weapons to extremely powerful conventional explosions to study how they would respond to a real nuclear explosion. The objective of Coulomb-B is to ensure that an accidental detonation of high-powered conventional explosives in a nuclear device does not cause a nuclear reaction.
Nuclear Atmospheric Tests caused concerns about potential public health effects and environmental hazards due to nuclear rain. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is a coalition of non-governmental organizations in one hundred countries that promote adherence to and implementation of the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This treaty recognizes the disproportionate impact of nuclear weapons activities on indigenous peoples. Despite near-worldwide recognition that ending nuclear testing was a good idea, earlier this year the Trump administration launched the idea of resuming nuclear explosive tests. The CTBT has not yet entered into force, but only three countries - India, Pakistan and North Korea - have conducted explosive nuclear tests since it was signed 25 years ago. This was obviously contrary to the spirit of disarmament and reduction of the global nuclear arsenal, which has been the intended objective of the world's nuclear states since the 1960s.
Monitors were originally designed to detect radionuclides that were released after the detonation of a nuclear weapon. In conclusion, despite some countries' attempts to resume testing, most nations have recognized that ending nuclear testing is essential for global peace and security. The CTBT has not yet entered into force, but it is an important step towards achieving this goal.
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