The Nuclear Weapon Archive
A Guide to Nuclear Weapons
If we fight a war and win it with H-bombs, what history will remember
is not
the ideals we were fighting for but the methods we used to accomplish them.
These methods will be compared to the warfare of Genghis Khan, who ruthlessly
killed every last inhabitant of Persia.
Hans A. Bethe
The Road from Los Alamos: Collected Essays of Hans A. Bethe
...And these atomic bombs which science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men who used them.
H. G. Wells
The World Set Free, 1914
About This Site
A "sister site" relationship has been established with Gregory Walker's
Trinity Site.
Greg and I are actively collaborating to provide the broadest variety of nuclear weapon information, in the most convenient form that we can. The two sites each have a different focus. The Nuclear Weapon Archive provides current information, technical data, and informative write-ups.
The Trinity Site focuses on historical information, especially reproductions of public domain documents.
Latest Site Updates
//https://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Weapons/Allbombs.html
5 April 2023
12 June 2020
25 January 2020
- Updated reference links on this page. Contact email changed.
13 March 2019
3 September 2007
- Updated the Tsar Bomba page (the world's largest nuclear bomb).
31 August 2007
23 August 2007
3 July 2007
- Updated the Section 8 of the Nuclear Weapons Frequently Asked Questions, "The First Nuclear Weapons", now with diagrams.
13 January 2007
9 January 2007
14 December 2006
25 October 2006
14 October 2006
17 May 2006
17 August 2003
- Site is retitled The Nuclear Weapon Archive with its own domain.
The Past is Prologue
History - World War II (and Before)
History - Postwar Weapons Development
The links below take you to pages describing the nuclear weapons tests series conducted since World War II. The ever popular nuclear test images are accessed through these links.
The Present
Arsenals of the Declared Nuclear States
Nuclear States in the Shadows
Archive Departments
Last changed 15 August 1999
Reviews of products and publications of special interest
Last changed 30 March 2001
LARGE high quality images
Reference Library
Background
Nuclear Weapons Frequently Asked Questions (NWFAQ) by Carey Sublette
Last modified: 13 March 2019 Inactive links are for section that have not been completed or released
Major Reference Articles and Links
- Repository of Nuclear Effects Computer Simulations and Models
- Illustrated Effects of Nuclear Weapons
- Plutonium Manufacture and Fabrication (illustrated)
- The Smyth Report: Atomic Energy for Military Purposes; the first public description of atomic technology, released in 1945 and still an excellent introduction
- Nuclear Tests
- Bibliographic Material
- Links to Important Information Sites.
Maintaining links to web resources is a challenge. The links listed here all work as of the beginning of 2020.
- The Department of Energy home page
is an excellent place to start. Several pages of excellent links to other DOE information sites are accessible from here.
- U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information.
Excellent link for accessing millions of pages of on-line information. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has shut down its library search portal and LLNL reports can be found here.
- Government Accounting Office Report Page.
A valuable resource. Go to GAO Access Search Page, use keyword search (like "nuclear").
Many FY 95 and later reports are available online
- Complete Archive Site for the late lamented U.S. Office of Technolgy Assessment (OTA). Hosted by Princeton Univ.
- Federation of American Scientists: Nuclear resources Lots of stuff here, browse around.
-
Stephen Schwartz's list of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Facilities
-
Brookings Institute Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Home Page
-
Gregory Walker's Trinity Site
- The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, this site now hosts the text of many valuable articles, with on-line search capability.
-
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
- James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS)
at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS). Excellent repository of on-line materials
- British American Security Information Council
(BASIC). An independent research organization that analyzes government policies.
- Project On Government Oversight (POGO): Center for Defense Information (CDI) An independent military policy research and analysis organization, has many on-line resources.
- Medical Management of Radiological Casualties Good resource on biological and chemical weapons.
- FM 8-9: Nato Handbook on the Medical Aspects of NBC Defensive Operations
-
Plutonium: The First Fifty Years from the US DOE
-
Drawing Back the Curtain of Secrecy: Restricted Data Declassification Decisions, 1946 to the Present (January 1, 2001). Version RDD-7. Lots of interesting bits of information about nuclear weapons.
- T-2 Nuclear Information Service. Located at Los Alamos, this is the site to go to first for nuclear physics data.
-
Nuclear Data Center of the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI). This is an excellent source of nuclear physics data also.
-
Archived Greenpeace Report on dual capable technology (check out Figs 4, 5, 6 and 7)
-
Sandia Lab News
- Nevada National Security Site
-
United States Nuclear Tests: July 1945 through September 1992 (Rev 16, September 2015)
- CIA Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room hosts downloadable declassified documents.
- Places to visit
Other Archive Materials
Other Pages of Links
Rummage Through Past Archives
Send all feedback to: careysub@nuclearweaponarchive.org
Advice for those who wish to contact me:
- If I don't respond, try emailing me again. It is easy for real email to get accidentally lost in the occasional spam flood.
- Don't try to send me an attachment without corresponding by email with me first. I malware and viruses arriving as attachments, and I often delete such messages on my mail server without ever downloading them.
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