5-3-2Effects of Nuclear Weapons Testing

Boys with burns caused by the “ashes of death” from the Bravo hydrogen bomb test

March 1954  Collection of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

Courtesy of Daigo Fukuryu Maru Foundation Inc.

On July 16, 1945, the United States carried out the world’s first nuclear weapon test. For decades, the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, and China repeatedly conducted nuclear tests in the atmosphere. By 1980, the total number of such tests had exceeded 500. Radioactive materials from nuclear weapons testing spread across wide areas. Residents living near the test sites, soldiers engaged in the tests, and many others were exposed to radiation. These tests also had a tremendous impact on the global environment.