How is the underground nuclear test conducted?

There are two main ways of underground nuclear test: flat hole and vertical shaft.

In the former, a specially designed long tunnel is excavated by terrain, nuclear explosive devices and various detectors are placed in the tunnel, and nuclear explosion is carried out after backfilling and plugging according to a special scheme.

The latter suspends nuclear devices and various detectors at the bottom of large-diameter shaft, and then carries out nuclear explosion after backfilling. Vertical shaft nuclear test is not limited by topography, but drilling, well construction, hoisting, backfilling and plugging, and sampling after explosion all require a set of standardized engineering procedures and special equipment, which is more difficult than flat hole nuclear test.

Extended data:

1962 the Cuban missile crisis and its peaceful settlement have made the United States and the Soviet union more aware of the danger of nuclear weapons and the necessity of preventing nuclear proliferation, and an important step to prevent nuclear proliferation is to ban nuclear tests.

At that time, China was accelerating the development of atomic bombs, and the United States and the Soviet Union tried to restrict China's nuclear development through treaties.

1In August 1963, the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain signed the Treaty on Partial Nuclear Test Ban, which restricted nuclear tests in the atmosphere, outer space and underwater, but did not restrict underground nuclear tests. At that time, all the nuclear tests of the United States and the Soviet Union had been turned into underground nuclear, so the main purpose of the treaty was to restrict those countries with nuclear thresholds from developing nuclear weapons.

1996, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty was signed, banning all nuclear tests. At present, the United States and China have not formally ratified the Treaty, but all nuclear powers have stopped nuclear testing. Nuclear powers conducted many nuclear tests in the early days and obtained a lot of relevant data. In addition, they have been able to conduct nuclear tests through computer simulation and subcritical nuclear tests.

1998 in may, India and Pakistan conducted many underground nuclear tests, and then until 2006, no country conducted nuclear tests. Since 2006, North Korea has conducted six underground nuclear tests.

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