22 February 2010

By the Numbers

This article appears in the February 2010 issue of eJournal USA, A World Free of Nuclear Weapons.

Date of Einstein letter to President Roosevelt: August 2, 1939

Date of first self-sustained, controlled nuclear chain reaction initiated by humans, in Chicago: December 2, 1942

July 16, 1945: Date of first explosion of nuclear fission bomb, or atomic bomb, in New Mexico

August 6, 1945: Date of nuclear fission bomb detonation over Hiroshima

Estimated number of people killed immediately or shortly after from Hiroshima nuclear blast: 70,000

Estimated number of deaths in the Battle of Okinawa, April 1–June 21, 1945: 219,000

Explosive power of nuclear fission bomb dropped on Hiroshima: 15,000 tons of TNT

Explosive power of the largest nuclear fusion bomb, tested in 1961: 50,000,000 tons of TNT

Year Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was open for signature: 1968

Year NPT took effect: 1970

Year NPT extended indefinitely: 1995

Number of countries that are party to the NPT: 189

Number of countries party to the NPT that have nuclear weapons: 5 (United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China)

Number of countries that are not party to the NPT: 4 (Israel, India, Pakistan, North Korea)

Year Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) signed by United States and Soviet Union: 1972

Year Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) signed by United States and Soviet Union: 1991

Year START expired: 2009

Estimated peak number of U.S. stockpiled nuclear warheads: 32,040 in 1966

Estimated peak number of Soviet stockpiled nuclear warheads: 40,159 in 1986

Year Megatons to Megawatts program started dismantling Russian nuclear warheads for recycling uranium to U.S. electric energy plants: 1994

Estimated number of Russian nuclear warheads eliminated by Megatons to Megawatts: 15,000