Number of nuclear tests noted

Press, 8 February 1985, Page 23

Number of nuclear tests noted

NZPA-AP Geneva The Geneva conference on disarmament has been told that about 1500 nuclear explosions have been conducted between 1945 and 1984 by the world’s six nuclear Powers, the Soviet Union making more tests than the United States in recent years. Britt Theorin, the chief Swedish delegate to the 40nation meeting, said that according to data compiled by Sweden’s National Defence Research Institute, the United States, with 722 explosions, remained the leader in what she called a “gloomy competition.” She gave the number of Soviet nuclear explosions, which she said were stepped up in recent years, as 556. France made 127, Britain, 37, and China, 29 explosions. India had one.

In 1984, Ms Theorin said, the Soviet total of 27 included 17 at the usual test sites in Semipalatinsk and Novaya Zemya while others were carried out in other areas “and may therefore have been conducted for non-military purposes.” The United States, she said, had 16 tests in 1984 at the Nevada site, while France carried out seven in the Pacific and Britain one in the Pacific. Two Chinese test explosions were observed in 1984, she said. All tests were underground. Ms Theorin cited the figures in issuing a fresh call for immediate negotiations on a treaty banning all nuclear tests. Tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and underwater were banned by the 1963 limited test ban treaty. France and Chiryi have not joined the