How can we have videos and tests of nuclear weapons without the effects of a nuclear bomb going off?

Question

I have seen videos of nuclear testing. The majority of these show testing into the ocean. Are these full nukes? How does the radiation effect the water and the air? Do we still do these kinds of tests?

In: 2

Answer 1

As you’ll hopefully soon learn, radiation is one of those things that is very poorly understood and whose danger is simultaneously grossly overstated and underestimated.

To answer the question in your title: The videos and observers of nuclear tests were located quite a distance away from the actual explosion – literally miles. They were also heavily shielded to protect observers and their equipment from the radiation and explosive force of the bomb.

> Are these full nukes?

Yes. They range in power from the original Trinity test (only a little bit more powerful than a Daisy Cutter fuel-air explosive) to the *Tsar Bomba*, the most powerful bomb ever detonated with a force equal to 55 megatons of TNT. Sometimes the tests deliberately didn’t attempt to detonate the nukes, sometimes the tests fizzled, and sometimes the nukes had their yields dialed down for a given test. But regardless – yes, they were real tests with real nuclear warheads that were actually detonated.

> How does the radiation effect the water and the air?

Exactly like you would expect. The local environment is completely vaporized. It’s blasted with ionizing radiation, and local debris is contaminated with nuclear fallout. Sometimes local populations were evacuated ahead of the tests, and sometimes they were pelted with fallout from the tests. Sometimes the local populations were allowed to simply experience the joys of being downwind from a nuclear test – the city of St. George, UT is thought to have been badly impacted by nuclear tests done in Nevada, and John Wayne (a very influential actor from the mid-20th century) is possibly among those whose cancer was caused by nuclear fallout.

> Do we still do these kinds of tests?

Mostly not. The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty limits what kind of tests its signatories can conduct. Where tests are done these days, it’s usually underground in abandoned (or purpose-dug) mine shafts and similar locations. Most ‘testing’ is done by simulation these days, but that’s not to say that no testing happens – we still will detonate the occasional warhead to ensure that our simulations are still accurate.