Secret Nuclear Testing Sites

Since the dawn of nuclear weapons, in the mid 20th century, countries have been racing to test out their capabilities. The main “superpowers” such as the USA, UK and Russia all stopped testing in the 1990s after the end of the Cold War and signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 1996. Emerging powers such as India and Pakistan didn’t sign, and there are still concerns over their nuclear capacity. North Korea is another state suspected of stockpiling nuclear weapons, despite promises in 2005 to stop the nuclear program.

So, it’s possible that tests are still going on around the world, but where? These testing sites are, by their nature, secret but over time, details have leaked out, allowing us to pinpoint exactly where the tests have taken place (with a few exceptions) in our Top 10 Secret Nuclear Testing Sites.

Totskoye, Russia

Russia has reams of empty space in the frozen Siberia, so it’s quite surprising to find out that one of their nuclear testing sites was in the relatively populous southern part of then USSR, near what is now Kazakhstan. The site was chosen by military hero Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov for a test in 1954 where soldiers were told they would be role-playing a nuclear explosion, with a mock device going off. The aim was to test the response of the soldiers and their equipment in the event of a nuclear explosion and the soldiers were told to approach the area 3 hours after the explosion had taken place.

Selected local villages were told of the test and offered temporary evacuation, but most of the local people were unaware, as were the soldiers. Unsurprisingly and tragically, many of these soldiers and locals went on to develop cancer and die, from the dose of radiation they’d received. A sad story of a government putting the future of its weapons program above the future of its people.

Iron Range, Australia

The Iron Range National Park is nowadays described as a pristine tropical rainforest but did it harbor a nuclear secret during the Cold War years? Marie Strain certainly thinks so – her father Brian Stanislas Hussey died of cancer in the mid 60s, just a few years after allegedly taking part in “Operation Blowdown”, in which an airburst nuclear device was detonated by UK, USA and Australian military forces, in order to test how the rainforest would withstand such a blast.  Some contemporary documents describe it as a nuclear explosion, but in 2001 a spokesperson for the Defense Minister, Peter Reith, said that it was TNT, designed to simulate the effects of a blast. We may never know the truth.

Semipalatinsk, Kazahkstan

Semipalatinsk, in what is now Kazahkstan, was the USSR’s primary testing ground and like Totskoye, little thought was given to the wellbeing of the local people. In the 40 years between 1949 and 1989, there were 456 tests conducted there and the full effects were concealed by the Soviet authorities for many years but an open letter from the Embassy of Kazakhstan describes the “horrifying array of diseases” that have emerged in the wake of the testing.  The site finally closed in 1991 but the repercussions will be felt for a long time still.

Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands

Just in case anyone thought that the Cold War atrocities were only on the Soviet side, here’s an example of an environmental catastrophe initiated by the US. Once a beautiful coral formed island, Enewetak is now known as the “nuclear trash can of the Pacific“, thanks to a number of detonations there in the 1940s and 1950s. The  $239 million clean-up operation started in 1977 and much of the radioactive material was buried in cement below a large concrete dome (pictured above). In 1980, the islands were declared safe for re-habitation and the islanders returned. The US has since paid compensation to the Marshallese and there have been further environmental clean-ups. Still, the risk of cancer remains slightly higher among islanders thanks to their exposure to radiation.

Jornada Del Muerto, New Mexico

The site of the first ever nuclear detonation in 1945, with the code name of “Trinity”. 8 different sites were considered but the one with the best location – in the Mojave Desert – was dismissed because General Leslie Groves, who was head of the project, intensely disliked GeneraL George S. Patton, then head of the Mojave base. So the New Mexico site was chosen instead, and on July 16 1945 the bomb was detonated. It left a crater that was 3m deep and 340m wide, but the long-term effects of the test would be devastating as it opened the door to the “atomic age”. The test director, Kenneth Bainbridge, apparently foresaw this dark future as he remarked to a colleague shortly after detonation “Now we are all sons of bitches”.

The Trinity site today still carries a background radiation level 10 times higher than usual, and the test led to many others over the next fifty years.

Christmas Island

Also known as Kiritimati, this was the site of both British and American testing in the 1950s and 60s. The British detonated their first successful bomb over the island in November 1957 (a test in May that year had not been successful) and carried on with atmospheric explosions through 1958 as part of “Operation Grapple”. The US carried out 22 detonations there in 1962 as well. Neither country evacuated the islanders during the blasts and some reports say that their own servicemen were not issued with protective clothing.

The environmental effects were immediately obvious – there was a strange, heavy rainfall immediately after the blasts, dead fish rose to the surface and thousands of birds were blinded by the light of the blast. They were later euthanized by the servicemen involved in the tests. The long-term effects on the island and the islanders are still unclear.

Lop Nur, China

China is another power that the West views with suspicion when it comes to nuclear weapons. They have been testing them since 1964 and seemed to agree to stop when they signed the CTBT in 1996. However, in 1998 a secret testing base in the Taklimakan desert, in the Xinjiang Province. British Prime Minister Tony Blair flew to China to discuss the testing, against a background of hideous deformities and cancer rates that were 35% higher in Xinjiang than in the rest of the country.

It is unclear whether testing is still ongoing in China, but the Chinese have no plans to lose their nuclear arsenal, stating that they want to maintain a “minimum deterrent”. In 2011, they published a white paper that agreed to a no-first-use policy, although that leaves the option of nuclear retaliation wide open.

P’unggye , North Korea

This is one site that has taken on increased significance recently, as North Korea declares that they are at war with South Korea. They have conducted three nuclear tests, at least one of which was at P’unggye, not far from the coast. The second of these tests occurred on May 25 2009 and was conducted a kilometer underground, with the utmost secrecy. However, the secret was discovered when GPS receivers in the area picked up signals, and the Western powers were alerted about the test. What this means for the conflict with South Korea is uncertain, but a nuclear-capable country declaring war is a terrifying prospect.

Area 51, USA

The most famous secret in the world, Area 51 is most commonly connected with extra-terrestrials but it was also used as a nuclear testing site. The so-called 57 Project simulated a nuclear attack and the effects were studied. A sub-parcel of land called Area 13 was set up to resemble an American city, with sidewalks and buildings in it, and live animals were brought in for the experiment. The dirty bomb was detonated in April 1957, spreading the an area of 895 square acres with Plutonium. Some clean-up was attempted, but the area was mostly just fenced off with barbed wire.

The facility was closed in 1973, but there is some talk of another, catastrophic test that took place there before it closed. In the absence of hard evidence, it is hard to know what really happened in America’s most secret of areas.

Quds, Iran

A secret nuclear testing facility whose location is not yet public, this is another very real threat to the security of the world. It has long been suspected that Iran was harboring nuclear weapons, despite signing the CTBT and there has recently been confirmation of a testing facility known only as “Quds”, a word which is synonymous with the Arabic word for Jerusalem. As it’s such a recent discovery, very little is known about “Quds”, but boasting on Mashregh News, run by the National Guard, suggests that the nuclear warheads there may be pointed at Israel. Whatever happens, the existence of a nuclear testing facility in an aggressive country is another worrying sign for the future of the world.

Source: http://www.smashinglists.com/top-10-secret-nuclear-testing-sites/2/