List of nuclear weapons tests of North Korea

Nuclear tests
Information
Country North Korea
Test site Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, North Korea
Period 2006–present
Number of tests 5
Test type underground
Max. yield 30 kilotonnes of TNT (130 TJ)

North Korea has conducted a total of five nuclear tests, in 2006, 2009, 2013 and twice in 2016.

Testing

North Korea's nuclear tests series tests and detonations
Sequence Date time (UT) Local time zone[note 1][1] Location Elevation, depth Delivery Yield [note 2] Fallout [note 3] References Notes
(1) 9 October 2006 01:35:27 KST (9 hrs)
Punggye-ri Test Site, North Korea 41°17′06″N 129°06′30″E / 41.28505°N 129.1084°E / 41.28505; 129.1084 ((1)) 1,340 m (4,400 ft), 310 m (1,020 ft) underground 0.7 - 2 kt [2]
(2) 25 May 2009 00:54:43 KST (9 hrs)
Punggye-ri Test Site, North Korea 41°17′29″N 129°04′54″E / 41.29142°N 129.08167°E / 41.29142; 129.08167 ((2)) 1,340 m (4,400 ft), 490 m (1,610 ft) underground 2 - 5.4 kt [5][6]
(3) 12 February 2013 02:57:51 KST (9 hrs)
Punggye-ri Test Site, North Korea 41°16′05″N 129°04′51″E / 41.26809°N 129.08076°E / 41.26809; 129.08076 ((3)) 1,340 m (4,400 ft), 1,000 m (3,300 ft) underground 6 - 16 kt [5][7]
(4) 6 January 2016 01:30:01 PYT (8:30 hrs)
Punggye-ri Test Site, North Korea 41°18′32″N 129°02′02″E / 41.30900°N 129.03399°E / 41.30900; 129.03399 ((4))

1,340 m

(4,400 ft),

1,000 m

(3,300 ft)

underground 7 - 10 kt [9] [10]
(5) 9 September 2016 00:30:01 PYT (8:30 hrs)
Punggye-ri Test Site, North Korea 41°17′53″N 129°00′54″E / 41.298°N 129.015°E / 41.298; 129.015 ((5))[note 4]

1,340 m

(4,400 ft),

1,000 m

(3,300 ft)

underground 20 - 30 kt [13][14] [15]
  1. To convert the UT time into standard local, add the number of hours in parentheses to the UT time; for local daylight saving time, add one additional hour. If the result is earlier than 00:00, add 24 hours and subtract 1 from the day; if it is 24:00 or later, subtract 24 hours and add 1 to the day. North Korea changed from UTC+9 hours to UTC+8:30 hours on 15 August 2015. All historical timezone data are derived from here:
  2. Estimated energy yield in tons, kilotons, and megatons. A ton of TNT equivalent is defined as 4.184 gigajoules (1 gigacalorie).
  3. Radioactive emission to the atmosphere aside from prompt neutrons, where known. The measured species is only iodine-131 if mentioned, otherwise it is all species. No entry means unknown, probably none if underground and "all" if not; otherwise notation for whether measured on the site only or off the site, where known, and the measured amount of radioactivity released.
  4. Location from seismic data, about 6.4 km west northwest Punggye-ri and locus of previous tests.

Summary

North Korea's nuclear testing series summary
Series or years Years covered Tests [Summ 1] Devices fired Devices with unknown yield Peaceful use tests Non-PTBT tests [Summ 2] Yield range (kilotons) [Summ 3] Total yield (kilotons) [Summ 4] Notes
nuclear tests 2006–2016 5 5 0.7 to 30 63.4
Totals 2006-Oct-09 to 2016-Jan-6 5 5 0.7 to 30 63.4 Total country yield is 0.0% of all nuclear testing.
  1. Includes all tests with potential for nuclear fission or fusion explosion, including combat use, singleton tests, salvo tests, zero yield fails, safety experiments, and bombs incapacitated by accidents but still intended to be fired. It does not include hydronuclear and subcritical tests, and misfires of a device which was subsequently fired successfully.
  2. Number of tests which would have been in violation of the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963, such as atmospheric, space or underwater tests. Some "peaceful use" cratering tests which should have been violations were protested, and later quietly dropped.
  3. "Small" refers to a value greater than zero but less than 0.5 kt.
  4. Some yields are described like "< 20 kt"; such are scored at one half of the numeric amount, i.e., yield of 10k in this example. "Unknown yield" adds nothing to the total.

See also

References

  1. "Timezone Historical Database". iana.com. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  2. USGS Earthquake Hazards Program (9 October 2006). "Magnitude 4.7--North Korea". USGS. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 Nordkorea: BGR registriert vermutlichen Kernwaffentest - BGR (In German), 12 Feb 2013
  4. 1 2 3 4 Nordkorea: BGR registriert vermutlichen Kernwaffentest - BGR, 6 Jan 2016
  5. 1 2 Kalinowski, Martin (25 May 2009). "Second nuclear test conducted by North Korea on 25 May 2009" (PDF). Arms Control Wonk. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  6. USGS Earthquake Hazards Program (26 May 2009). "Magnitude 4.7--North Korea". USGS. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  7. Davenport, Kelsey (March 2013). "North Korea Conducts Nuclear Test". Arms Control Association. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  8. "Chinese underground nuclear test North Korea reached an unprecedented precision measurement". 19 June 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  9. "North Korean carries out fourth nuclear test". The Guardian. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  10. "North Korea Tests Nuclear Device, Claims Successful Thermonuclear Detonation". The Diplomat. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  11. 1 2 Nordkorea: BGR registriert vermutlichen Kernwaffentest - BGR (In German), 9 Sep 2016
  12. "North Korea's January 6 2016 Nuclear Test Location and Yield: Seismic Results from USTC". 6 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  13. "M5.3 Explosion - 19km ENE of Sungjibaegam, North Korea". United States Geological Survey. 9 September 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  14. "North Korea nuclear test: Japan confirms huge quake caused by explosion". The Guardian. 9 September 2016.
  15. 1 2 North Korea conducts fifth and largest nuclear test - South Korea and Japan - Reuters, Sep 9, 2016 5:39am Britian Standard Time
  16. The Latest: N. Korea Confirms 'Successful' Nuclear Test - Associated Press, 2016 Sep 9, 12:52 AM EDT
  17. "North Korea's September 9 2016 Nuclear Test Location and Yield: Seismic Results from USTC". 10 September 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2016.

Sources

  • Yang, Xiaoping; North, Robert; Romney, Carl (August 2000), CMR Nuclear Explosion Database (Revision 3), SMDC Monitoring Research 
  • Andryushi, LA; Voloshin, N.P.; Ilkaev, R.I.; Matushchenko, A.M.; Ryabev, L.D.; Strukov, V.G.; Chernyshev, A.K.; Yudin, Yu.A., Mikhailov, V.N., ed., Catalog of Worldwide Nuclear Testing, retrieved 4 March 2013 
  • Wm Robert Johnston, PhD, Johnston Archive of Nuclear Weapons, retrieved 31 December 2013 
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.