Thistimeline of nuclear weapons development is achronological catalog of the evolution ofnuclear weapons rooting from the development of the science surroundingnuclear fission andnuclear fusion. In addition to the scientific advancements, this timeline also includes several political events relating to the development of nuclear weapons. The availability of intelligence on recent advancements in nuclear weapons of several major countries (such asUnited States and theSoviet Union) is limited because of the classification of technical knowledge of nuclear weapons development.

• 1895 –Wilhelm Konrad Röntgen discoversX-rays at theUniversity of Würzburg.
• 1896 –Henri Becquerel discovers thaturanium emitsradiation at theNational Museum of Natural History inParis.
• 1898 –J.J. Thomson observes thephotoelectric effect.
• 1900 –Max Planck theorizes thatmatter can only absorbenergy in fixedquanta.
• 1904 –Frederick Soddy first proposes a bomb powered bynuclear fission to theRoyal Engineers.^[1]
• 1905 –Albert Einstein proposesmass–energy equivalence, deriving from his theory of special relativity, which he had developed earlier that year.^[2]
• 1911 –Ernest Rutherford discovers that the majority of the energy in anatom is contained in thenucleus through experiments at theUniversity of Manchester.^[3]
• 1912 –J.J. Thomson discoversisotopes through experiments withneon.^[3]
• 1914 –H.G. Wells writesThe World Set Free, ascience fiction novel postulating aworld war in 1956 pitting theUnited Kingdom andFrance againstGermany andAustria-Hungary. Inspired by the research of Rutherford,Sir William Ramsay, andFrederick Soddy, the novel predicts the development of atomic weapons, and features a "carolinum"-basedhand grenade that does not extinguish once detonated.^[4]
• 1920 – Rutherford postulates the existence of a neutral particle in the atomic nucleus at aBakerian Lecture inLondon.^[3]
• 1924 – Writing forThe Pall Mall Gazette,Winston Churchill speculates "Might a bomb no bigger than an orange be found to possess a secret power to destroy a whole block of buildings – nay to concentrate the force of a thousand tons ofcordite and blast atownship at a stroke?"^[4]

• 1932 –James Chadwick discovers theneutron, leading to experiments in whichelements are bombarded with the new particle.^[5][6]
• 1933 –Leó Szilárd realizes the concept of thenuclear chain reaction, although no such reaction was known at the time. He invented the idea of an atomic bomb in 1933 while crossing a London street inRussell Square. He patented it in 1934. (British patent 630,726)
• 1934 –Enrico Fermi conducts experiments in which he exposes uranium andthorium to neutrons to create distinct new substances. Although he is unaware at the time, he creates the firstsynthetic elements, thetransuranium elements.^[6]
• 1938 – Fermi is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his achievements, and flees fromFascist Italy to theUnited States due to theracial laws ratified under pressure fromNazi Germany.^[6]
• 1938 – December – TheGerman chemistsOtto Hahn andFritz Strassman detectbarium after bombardinguranium withneutrons. This is correctly interpreted byLise Meitner and her nephewOtto Robert Frisch asnuclear fission.
• 1939 – January –Otto Robert Frisch experimentally confirmsOtto Hahn andFritz Strassman's discovery of nuclear fission. Frisch goes toCopenhagen to share the discovery withNiels Bohr, who in turn reports the discovery to his American colleagues. Bohr andJohn Archibald Wheeler determine later that year through chain-reaction experiments atPrinceton University thaturanium-235 could produce anuclear explosion.^[6]
• 1939 – April –Nazi Germany begins theGerman nuclear energy project.
• 1939 – September 1 –World War II begins after theinvasion and subsequentpartition ofPoland between Nazi Germany and theSoviet Union.
• 1939 – October –U.S. PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt receives theEinstein–Szilárd letter and authorizes the creation of the Advisory Committee on Uranium. TheUranium Committee has its first meeting on October 21, and $6,000 was budgeted for conducting neutron experiments.

• 1940 – April – TheMAUD Committee (Military Application of Uranium Detonation) is established byHenry Tizard and theBritish Ministry of Aircraft Production to investigate feasibility of an atomic bomb.
• 1940 – May – The paper which Dr.Yoshio Nishina of Nuclear Research Laboratory ofRiken and Professor of Chemical Institute, Faculty of Science, Imperial University of Tokyo, Kenjiro Kimura presented toPhysical Review, showed that they had producedneptunium-237 by exposingtriuranium octoxide to fast neutrons for more than 50 hours.^[7][8]
• 1940 – May - After thedefeat of Belgium in only 18 days, the Nazis took possession of a significant amount of high quality uranium ore from theBelgian Congo, some still "on the docks".^[9] In 1939 both Britain and France had expressed interest in securing Belgium's uranium inventory but no action was taken.^[10]
• 1940 - June - TheFrench Third Republic collapses during theBattle of France. The rapid military collapse would contribute to nearly universal French public support for a nuclear deterrent in later years.^[11]
• 1940 – July – The paper explaining that Dr.Yoshio Nishina and Kenjiro Kimura discoveredsymmetric fission on the previously described test appeared inNature.^[12][8][13] The LibreTexts libraries based upon work supported by theNational Science Foundation says, "Multiple combinations of symmetric fission products are possible for fission chain reactions."^[14] And, again, it asfission product yield, is known that the higher the energy of the state that undergoesnuclear fission is more likely a symmetric fission.
• 1940 – July – TheSoviet Academy of Sciences starts a committee to investigate the development of a nuclear bomb.
• 1940 – September – Belgian mining engineerEdgar Sengier orders that half of the uranium stock available from theShinkolobwe mine in the Belgian Congo—about 1,050 tons—be secretly dispatched to New York by African Metals Corp., a commercial division ofUnion Minière.^{[10]: 186–187}
• 1941 – February –Plutonium discovered byGlenn Seaborg andArthur Wahl at theUniversity of California, Berkeley.
• 1941 – May – A review committee postulates that the United States will not isolate enough uranium-235 to build an atomic bomb until 1945.^[6]
• 1941 – June – President Roosevelt forms theOffice of Scientific Research and Development underVannevar Bush.
• 1941 – June 15 – The MAUD Committee approves a report that a uranium bomb could be built.
• 1941 – June 22 –Operation Barbarossa, the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union, begins. Soviet nuclear research is subsequently delayed.
• 1941 – October – President Roosevelt receives MAUD report on the design and costs to develop a nuclear weapon. Roosevelt approves project to confirm MAUD's finding.
• 1941 – December – The United States entersWorld War II after thePearl Harbor attack and theGerman declaration of war against the United States, leading to an influx in funding and research for atomic weapons.^[6]
• 1942 – TheUnited Kingdom opts to support the United States' efforts to build a bomb rather than to pursue its own nuclear weapons program due to wartime economic damage, and allows theTube Alloys programme to be subsumed into the American project.^[6]
• 1942 – April –Joseph Stalin was first informed of the efforts to develop nuclear weapons based on a letter sent to him byGeorgii Flerov pointing out that there was nothing being published on nuclear fission since its discovery, and the prominent physicists likely involved had not been publishing at all. This urged the Soviet Union to start a nuclear weapons program.
• 1942 – July – TheHeereswaffenamt (HWA, Army Ordnance Office) relinquishes control of theGerman nuclear energy project to theReichsforschungsrat (RFR, Reich Research Council), essentially making it only a research project with objectives far short of making a weapon.
• 1942 – July through September – A summer conference atUniversity of California, Berkeley is convened by physicistRobert Oppenheimer and discusses the design of a fission bomb.Edward Teller introduces the "Super"hydrogen bomb as a major discussion point.
• 1942 – August through November – TheManhattan Project is established by theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers under command of GeneralLeslie Groves. "Site X" is chosen inTennessee, for isotopic separation of uranium-235 from natural uranium, and will later becomeOak Ridge National Laboratory.Hanford Site is chosen inWashington, for making plutonium in nuclear reactors. "Site Y" is chosen by Groves andDr. J. Robert Oppenheimer nearAlbuquerque,New Mexico, for bomb design and manufacture, and will later becomeLos Alamos National Laboratory.
• 1942 – September - Lieutenant ColonelKenneth Nichols meets Edgar Sengier in the New York offices ofUnion Minière. Nichols has been ordered by General Groves to find uranium. Sengier's answer has become history: "You can have the ore now. It is in New York, a thousand tons of it. I was waiting for your visit." Nichols reaches an agreement with Sengier that an average of 400 tons ofuranium oxide will begin shipping to the US from Shinkolobwe each month.^[15]
• 1942 – October - 100 tons of Sengier's uranium ore is sent to Canada for refining byEldorado Mining and Refining inPort Hope, Ontario.^[15]
• 1942 – October - A special detachment fromUnited States Army Corps of Engineers arrives in theBelgian Congo to reopen theShinkolobwe mine. Work involves draining water from flooded workings, upgrading the plant machinery and constructing transportation facilities.^{[10]: 3, 6–7, 11}
• 1942 – November - The first uranium oxide shipment leaves the Congolese port ofLobito (it will later change toMatadi because of better security). Only two shipments will ever be lost at sea. Aerodromes atElizabethville andLeopoldville are expanded with US assistance. TheOSS is employed to prevent ore smuggling to Nazi Germany.^{[10]: 3, 6–7, 11 [9]: 45–49}
• 1942 – December 2 – Enrico Fermi and his team achieve the first controllednuclear reaction atChicago Pile-1 constructed at theUniversity of Chicago in asquash court underneathStagg Field.
• 1943 –Laboratory No. 2 is established to pursue nuclear weapons research underIgor Kurchatov.^[6]
• 1943 – March – The Japanese Committee on Research in the Application of Nuclear Physics, chaired byYoshio Nishina concludes in a report that while an atomic bomb was feasible, it would be unlikely to produce one during the war.Japan then concentrated on research intoradar.
• 1943 – April – Introductory lectures begin at Los Alamos, which later are compiled intoThe Los Alamos Primer.
• 1943 – August – TheQuebec Agreement is signed by President Roosevelt andBritish Prime Minister Winston Churchill.James Chadwick, as head of the British Mission to the Los Alamos Laboratory, led a multinational team of distinguished scientists that included SirGeoffrey Taylor,James Tuck,Niels Bohr,Rudolf Peierls,Otto Frisch,Klaus Fuchs andErnest Titterton.
• 1944 – April –Emilio Segrè discovers that thespontaneous fission rate of plutonium is too high to be used in agun-type fission weapon. Leads to change in priority to the design of animplosion-type nuclear weapon. Thecalutrons at theY-12uranium enrichment plant are activated.^[6]
• 1944 – July –Sergei Korolev is released from aGulag and assigned for rocket development.^[16]
• 1944 – September – The first plutonium reactor is activated in Hanford, but shuts itself off immediately.^[6]
• 1944 – September 8 – TheWehrmacht launches theV-2 rocket, the firstballistic missile and the template for later American and Soviet nuclear missile designs. It is based on the designs ofWernher von Braun.
• 1945 – March 10 – A JapaneseFu-Go balloon bomb nearly knocks out electrical power to the Hanford plant.
• 1945 – April 12 –U.S. Vice PresidentHarry S. Truman isinaugurated President after thedeath of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and is informed about the Manhattan Project byWar SecretaryHenry L. Stimson.
• 1945 – May – The United States captures a number of important German rocket scientists, including Wernher von Braun, for work on American missile programs throughOperation Paperclip. Von Braun is eventually assigned to theArmy Ballistic Missile Agency at theRedstone Arsenal inHuntsville,Alabama.^[17]
• 1945 – June – TheOffice of Military Government, United States hands overNordhausen, including theMittelwerk factory where the V-2 rocket was constructed, to theGroup of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany. Soviet forces find documents and equipment from the factory and recruitHelmut Gröttrup.^[16]
• 1945 – July 16 – The firstnuclear explosion, theTrinity test of an implosion-type plutonium-based nuclear weapon known as "the gadget", nearAlamogordo, New Mexico.
• 1945 – July 22 – Truman alludes to Stalin about having successfully detonated an atomic bomb at thePotsdam Conference.^[18][6]
• 1945 – August 6 – "Little Boy", a gun-type uranium-235 weapon, isdropped onHiroshima, Japan.
• 1945 – August 9 – "Fat Man", an implosion-type plutonium-239 weapon, isdropped onNagasaki, Japan.
• 1945 – August 11 – TheSmyth Report is published detailing the efforts of theManhattan Project.
• 1945 – August 15 –Japansurrenders to theAllied Powers.
• 1945 – August – TheSoviet atomic bomb project is accelerated under a Special Commission chaired byLavrentiy Beria. The program would be heavily reliant onespionage on the Manhattan Project, especially by Fuchs andTheodore A. Hall.^[6]
• 1945 – October 18 – TheAtomic Energy Commission (CEA) is established inFrance byFrench PresidentCharles de Gaulle to investigate military uses of atomic energy.^[6]
• 1946 – January – TheAtomic Energy Act of 1946 takes effect, officially turning over theManhattan Project to theUnited States Atomic Energy Commission.
• 1946 – March 26 – TheStrategic Air Command is established in theU.S. Army Air Forces forcommand and control of nuclear weapons.
• 1946 – April – Conference is held at Los Alamos that concludes that a "Super" (hydrogen) bomb can likely be built.^[19]
• 1946 – June – First meeting of theUnited Nations Atomic Energy Commission, which was established by the first resolution of theU.N. General Assembly, is held.^[20]
• 1946 – June – TheSoviet Union rejects theBaruch Plan.
• 1946 – August – TheConvairB-36 Peacemaker is introduced as the first purpose-built nuclear bomber.
• 1946 – December 25 – The Soviet Union activates theF-1 pile inMoscow, producing the first controlled nuclear reaction inEurope.
• 1947 – TheRTV-A-2 Hiroc, the first design of anintercontinental ballistic missile, is cancelled by the United States.
• 1947 – A steppe nearSemipalatinsk,Kazakh SSR is selected by Beria as the Soviet Union'snuclear test site.
• 1947 – January – British prime ministerClement Attlee approves the development of an atomic bomb through theHigh Explosive Research programme led byWilliam Penney, Baron Penney.^[6]
• 1948 – June 19 – The Soviet Union's first plutonium production reactor is activated atChelyabinsk-40.^[6]
• 1948 –Andrei Sakharov proposes the first design for aSoviet hydrogen bomb.^[6]
• 1948 –Indian Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru ratifies an act establishing theAtomic Energy Commission of India chaired byHomi J. Bhabha.^[6]
• 1948 – September – The Soviet Union launches its first ballistic missile, a reverse-engineered version of the V-2 rocket later renamed theR-1 rocket.^[16]
• 1948 – The United States transfers nuclear-capable B-29 bombers to Europe during theBerlin Blockade.^[21]
• 1949 – August 29 – The Soviet Union conducts its firstatomic test,RDS-1 (nicknamedJoe 1 by the Americans).^[19]
• 1949 – September 3 – U.S. atmospheric monitoring flights begin detecting effects of the Soviet test.^[19]
• 1949 – September 23 – President Truman announces that the Soviets have conducted an atomic test.^[19]
• 1949 – September through December – Debate occurs within theTruman administration over whether to authorize the development of a hydrogen bomb. Although the AEC General Advisory Committee chaired by Oppenheimer condemns the idea, the bomb is encouraged by theDepartment of State, theDepartment of Defense, theJoint Chiefs of Staff, theJoint Committee on Atomic Energy, and theNational Security Council.^[6]
• 1949 – The U.S. Department of Defense preparesOperation Dropshot, acontingency plan for a nuclear and conventional war against the Soviet Union.
• 1949 – Following theBerlin Blockade and the articulation of theTruman Doctrine, theNorth Atlantic Treaty is ratified by 22 signatories inWestern Europe andNorth America, including the United States, creating thecollective securityallianceNATO. The Treaty places its members under an American "nuclear umbrella" against a Soviet attack and provides the basis fornuclear weapons sharing agreements withItaly, theNetherlands, andBelgium.^[22]

• 1950 - TheUS Air ForceStrategic Air Command (SAC) stations 11 model 1561 Fat Man atomic bombs atRCAF Station Goose Bay inLabrador.
• 1950 – January 31 – President Harry S. Truman authorizes the development of the hydrogen bomb.^[6]
• 1950 – March 10 – President Truman instructs AEC to prepare for hydrogen bomb production.^[19]
• 1950 – April 7 – The National Security Council issues its classifiedNSC 68policy paper advocating for the United States to expand its conventional and nuclear arms in response to the Cold War and the decline of formergreat powers such as the United Kingdom, France, and Japan. President Truman takes the paper's advice and triples U.S. military expenditures over the course of three years.^[23]
• 1950 –Klaus Fuchs andJulius and Ethel Rosenberg are arrested in the United States for leaking atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.^[6]
• 1950 – December –General Douglas MacArthur of theUN Command requests 34 nuclear bombs after China intervenes in the Korean War.^[24][25]
• 1951 – January 12 – In response to the threat of a Soviet nuclear attack, President Truman creates theFederal Civil Defense Administration. The FCDA is succeeded by theFederal Civil Defense Authority in 1972, which is in turn succeeded by theFederal Emergency Management Agency in 1979.
• 1951 – President Truman establishes theCONELRAD emergency broadcasting system to alert the United States to an enemy attack. The system is later succeeded by theEmergency Broadcast System in 1963 and theEmergency Alert System in 1997.
• 1951 – The United States opens theNevada Test Site for nuclear weapons tests.
• 1951 – MacArthur, with the approval of theCommander-in-Chief of the Strategic Air CommandCurtis LeMay andSouth Korean PresidentSyngman Rhee, pressures the government for the use of nuclear weapons against China. He is overruled and it becomes a factor inPresident Truman's relief of General Douglas MacArthur.^[24][25]
• 1951 –China and the Soviet Union sign an agreement whereby China would supplyuranium ore in exchange for technical assistance in producing nuclear weapons.
• 1952 – September – President Truman declines proposal by theState Department Panel of Consultants on Disarmament that the first test of a hydrogen bomb be delayed.^[19]
• 1952 – October – TheUnited Kingdom conductsOperation Hurricane, the first test of a British nuclear weapon. The plutoniumimplosion-type nuclear weapon was detonated in a lagoon between theMontebello Islands,Western Australia.
• 1952 –Greece andTurkey join NATO, allowing them to participate in nuclear sharing programs.^[22]
• 1952 – October 31 – The United States test the firstfusion bomb,Ivy Mike.^[19]
• 1953 – The first nuclear-tipped rockets are deployed by the United States. TheMGR-1 Honest John is such as example.
• 1953 – February – President Eisenhower considers using nuclear weapons when negotiations on theKorean Armistice Agreement stalled.^[21]
• 1953 – August 12 – The Soviet Union conducts its first test of ahydrogen bomb, nicknamedJoe 4 by the Americans. Unlike the American hydrogen bomb, the SovietRDS-4 design is deliverable.^[6]
• 1953 – August 20 – The United States test-fires thePGM-11 Redstone rocket, its first ballistic missile.
• 1953 – October 30 – The United States formalizes itsNew Look foreign policy throughNSC 162/2, emphasizing the United States's superiority in nuclear and conventional forces.
• 1953 – December 8 –U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces theAtoms for Peace program at theU.N. General Assembly.
• 1954 – BritishEnglish ElectricCanberra bombers of theRoyal Air Force are outfitted with atomic bombs.^[6]
• 1954 – TheLockheed EC-121 Warning Star is introduced as the United States' primaryairborne early warning and control aircraft.
• 1954 – January 12 –U.S. Secretary of StateJohn Foster Dulles articulates a policy of "massive retaliation."
• 1954 – March 1 – The United Statesdetonates its first deliverable thermonuclear weapons atBikini Atoll,Marshall Islands.One device had a yield almost three times as large as expected, leading to the worstradiological disaster in US history.
• 1954 – June 17 – Prime Minister Churchill decides to begin theBritish hydrogen bomb programme, andMinister of DefenseHarold Macmillan publicly announces it in the next year on February 17.
• 1954 – September – TheFirst Taiwan Strait Crisis begins when Communist China begins anartillery bombardment of theKuomintang-held islands ofKinmen and theMatsu Islands, resulting in the United States concluding aMutual Defense Treaty withTaiwan and contemplating a nuclear attack against the Mainland. Although the crisis ends after China's participation in theBandung Conference, the Soviet Union agrees to assist China with nuclear weapons development as a result.^[26]
• 1954 – December 26 – TheFrench nuclear weapons program is secretly established byPrime MinisterPierre Mendès France.
• 1955 – January 15 – China beginsProject-596 underMarshal Nie Rongzheng with the approval ofMao Zedong. The Third Ministry of Machine Building, a predecessor of theChina National Nuclear Corporation, is created to oversee the project.^[27]
• 1955 – February – TheBoeing B-52 Stratofortress replaces the B-36 as theU.S. Air Force's primary strategic nuclear bomber.
• 1955 – India purchases aPUREX reactor fromCanada and theUnited States, and constructs theBhabha Atomic Research Centre atTrombay.
• 1955 –West Germany joins NATO, allowing it to participate in nuclear sharing.^[22]
• 1955 – The Soviet Union introduces a modified version of theMyasishchev M-4 bomber capable of striking targets in continental North America.^[28]
• 1955 – February – ThePresident's Science Advisory Committee recommends that the United States make missile production a national priority.^[17]
• 1956 – TheTupolevTu-95, the primary intercontinental strategic bomber of theSoviet Air Forces, enters service.
• 1956 – Development on theAvroBlue Steelair-to-surface missile for the British "V-bomber" fleet begins.^[29]
• 1956 – The nuclear-capablePGM-19 Jupitermedium-range ballistic missile is created from the Redstone rocket.
• 1956 – October–November – The Soviet Union threatens nuclear strikes against the United Kingdom and France during theSuez Crisis.^[30]
• 1956 – November 30 –France establishes a secret committee for the Military Applications of Atomic Energy underPierre Guillaumat andYves Rocard. It establishes a secret protocol between the CEA and theMinistry of Defence for procuring weapons material.^[6]
• 1956 – ThePakistan Atomic Energy Commission is established. This commission is responsible for the development of both thenuclear reactors and nuclear weapons ofPakistan.
• 1957 – Israel purchases a nuclear reactor from France, which is built atDimona in theNegev. By this time it has already started a weapons program underIsraeli Prime MinisterDavid Ben-Gurion,Defense MinisterShimon Peres, andErnst David Bergmann.^[6]
• 1957 – July – TheInternational Atomic Energy Agency is founded.
• 1957 – August 26 – The Soviet Union announces the successful test of anintercontinental ballistic missile, theR-7 Semyorka, capable of flying "into any part of the world."^[31]
• 1957 – October 4 – TheSputnik 1, the firstartificial satellite, is launched using amodified version of the Soviet Union's ICBM, beginning theSpace Race.
• 1957 – In response to the new threat of Soviet ICBMs, the U.S. Army accelerates production on theNike Zeus missile, ananti-ballistic missile designed to intercept ICBMs in mid-air.
• 1957 – Operation Antler, the finalBritish nuclear test in Australia, occurs inMaralinga,South Australia.
• 1957 – October 10 – TheWindscale fire occurs inSeascale,Cumbria after agraphite-moderated reactor built for the British hydrogen bomb project catches fire, resulting in the release ofradioactive contamination across the United Kingdom and Europe. Aninquiry determines that the accident was avoidable and that theBritish Army ignored warnings by scientists, but is suppressed by the government to prevent damaging theSpecial Relationship.^[32][33]
• 1957 – October 15 – The Soviet Union agrees to provide a "sample bomb" and extensive technical assistance to the Chinese nuclear program.^[27]
• 1957 – December 12 – TheSM-65 Atlas, the first U.S. ICBM, is launched.^[34]
• 1957 – December 17 – TheStrategic Rocket Forces is established to maintain the Soviet nuclear arsenal.^[16]
• 1957 - Iran commences its nuclear program underShah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.^[35]
• 1958 – The United States and the United Kingdom sign the1958 US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement. This is a bilateral treaty on nuclear weapons cooperation signed after the United Kingdom successfully tested ahydrogen bomb duringOperation Grapple. Under the agreement the United States supplies the United Kingdom with nuclear weapons throughProject E.
• 1958 – The U.S. Air Force draftsProject A119, a classified plan to detonate a nuclear bomb on theMoon. The plan is quickly cancelled in favor of aMoon landing.
• 1958 –RAFAEL is formed by theIsraeli Ministry of Defense to coordinate its nuclear program.^[6]
• 1958 – TheCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament is formed in the United Kingdom.^[36]
• 1958 – TheJiuquan Atomic Energy Complex is opened in China in theGansu Province.^[6][37]
• 1958 – The United States considers a nuclear strike on China during theSecond Taiwan Strait Crisis, in which China resumed its bombardment of Kinmen and the Matsu Islands.^[38]
• 1958 – January – The United States deploys nuclear weapons to South Korea.^[39]
• 1958 – August – ThePGM-17 Thorintermediate-range ballistic missile, the U.S. Air Force's first ballistic missile, is declared operational and begins deployment in the United Kingdom throughProject Emily.^[17]
• 1958 – November – The United States and the Soviet Union observe a nuclear-testing moratorium.^[40]
• 1958 – November 4 – TheDemocratic Party wins the1958 United States elections in part due to public perception of a "missile gap" against the Soviet Union following the release of theGaither Report. Although later proven to be an overestimate, the concept later helpsJohn F. Kennedy to win the1960 presidential election.^[41]
• 1958 – November 10 – Soviet general secretaryNikita Khrushchev makes a speech demanding the withdrawal of American, British, and French forces fromWest Berlin, beginning a series of political crises.^[42][43]
• 1959 – Nuclear tests inAntarctica are banned under theAntarctic Treaty.^[36]
• 1959 –Fidel Castro takes power inCuba and creates aMarxism–Leninist government aligned with the Soviet Union.
• 1959 – The Soviet Union scales back nuclear assistance to China as a result of the emergingSino-Soviet split.^[27]

• 1960 – The United Kingdom cancels theDe HavillandBlue Streakmedium-range ballistic missile in favor of the American-producedDouglasGAM-87 Skyboltair-launched ballistic missile, ending its attempts to produce an independent delivery system.
• 1960 –RAND Corporation analystHerman Kahn releasesOn Thermonuclear War, which argues that the destructiveness of nuclear war can be limited throughanti-aircraft defenses,civil defense preparations, and a doctrine targetingcounterforces. The book becomes influential in U.S. nuclear strategy and helps formulate the Kennedy administration's policy offlexible response.^[44][45]
• 1960 –Operation Chrome Dome, in which nuclear-armed B-52 bombers are continually flown by the U.S. Air Force close to the Soviet Union on continuous alert, begins.
• 1960 – February 13 –France successfully tests a nuclear weapon, calledGerboise Bleue, in theSahara nearReggane,French Algeria.
• 1960 – 1 May – An AmericanLockheed U-2 spy plane piloted byFrancis Gary Powers isshot down over Soviet territory, deterioratingSoviet Union–United States relations, sabotaging the Four-Power summit in Paris, and hindering General Secretary Khrushchev's policy ofpeaceful coexistence.^[46]
• 1960 – December – TheChina Institute of Atomic Energy begins research on thermonuclear weapons.
• 1961 – TheIsraeli Prime MinisterDavid Ben-Gurion informed theCanadian Prime MinisterJohn Diefenbaker that a pilot plutonium-separation plant would be built at the Dimona reactor. Intelligence would indicate from this and other information thatIsrael intended to produce nuclear weapons.
• 1961 –Australia considers purchasing nuclear weapons from the United Kingdom, but the idea is rejected by theCabinet of Prime MinisterRobert Menzies.^[47][48]
• 1961 - President Kennedy announces that the federal government will begin the construction offallout shelters.^[49]
• 1961 – October 27 – TheBerlin crisis occurring after the construction of theBerlin Wall byEast German authorities culminates when the United States deploys tanks toCheckpoint Charlie, a move reciprocated by the Soviet Union. President Kennedy and General Secretary Khrushchev ultimately negotiate the removal of the tanks through diplomaticbackchannels and prevent a war.^[43][42]
• 1961 – October 30 – The Soviet Union detonatesTsar Bomba, the largest, most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated.
• 1962 – The term "mutually-assured destruction" is coined.
• 1962 – TheLockheedUGM-27 Polaris, theU.S. Navy's firstsubmarine-launched ballistic missile, is introduced.
• 1962 – TheBoeingLGM-30 Minuteman-I, the first American ICBM usingliquid-propellant rocket to be able to have an immediate launch, is introduced.
• 1962 – July 9 – TheStarfish Primehigh-altitude nuclear test overJohnston Island creates anelectromagnetic pulse that causes electrical damage in parts ofHawaii, disrupts telecommunications in the Pacific Ocean, and disables satellites inlow Earth orbit.^[17]
• 1962 – October 17 through October 28 – The Soviet Union attempts to deployR-12 Dvina medium-range ballistic missiles andR-14 Chusovaya intermediate-range ballistic missiles to Cuba within 90 miles of thecontiguous United States, and is discovered by an American U-2 plane. The subsequentCuban Missile Crisis nearly leads to aworld war, and is only averted by an agreement betweenSoviet General SecretaryNikita Khrushchev andU.S. President John F. Kennedy to withdraw the missiles from Cuba in exchange for a public promise not to invade Cuba and a secret withdrawal of American missiles fromTurkey.^[50]
• 1962 – December 21 – President John F. Kennedy and Prime Minister Harold Wilson ratify theNassau Agreement agreeing for the United States to supply the United Kingdom withPolaris submarine-launched missiles. ThePolaris Sales Agreement is signed on 6 April 1963 bySecretary of State Dean Rusk andBritish Ambassador to the United States David Ormsby-Gore.
• 1963 – August – TheTreaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water opens for signatures. The treaty limited nuclear weapons tests tounderground detonations.
• 1963 – August – President Kennedy considers using conventional and nuclear air strikes against China's nuclear facilities to prevent it from developing an atomic bomb.
• 1963 – American nuclear weapons are deployed atCanadian Armed Forces bases inWest Germany, through theNATO nuclear sharing program.^[51] Additional American nuclear weapons systems are deployed in Canada under U.S. control throughNORAD.
• 1964 – January 29 – TheStanley Kubrick filmDr. Strangelove or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released satirizing predominant nuclear strategy.
• 1964 – October 13 – Leonid Brezhnev becomes General Secretary of the Soviet Union, and increases military expenditures.^[16]
• 1964 – October 16 – China successfullytests an atomic bomb atLop Nur.
• 1964 – India produces weapons-grade plutonium.^[6]
• 1964 – TheR-17 Elbrustactical ballistic missile enters service in the Soviet Union. The subsequent series ofScud missiles eventually becomes a major proliferation concern.^[16]
• 1965 – January – The Soviet Union detonatesChagan as part of theirNuclear Explosions for the National Economy series to study the peaceful use of nuclear explosions.
• 1965 – Pakistan constructs a research reactor purchased from the United States.
• 1965 – The televisiondocudramaThe War Game is filmed in the United Kingdom as an episode ofThe Wednesday Playanthology series providing a realistic depiction of a nuclear war. Although the film's broadcast is blocked by theBBC and the British government for 20 years due to its disturbing content, it is released abroad to critical acclaim, and receives the1966 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in the United States.
• 1965 – March 10 –Israeli Prime MinisterLevi Eshkol claims that Israel "will not be the first state to introduce nuclear weapons" into theMiddle East.^[6]
• 1965 – The Command Center for the Office of Emergency Planning mistakes theNortheast blackout for a nuclear attack.^[52]
• 1966 – France withdraws fromSHAPE and theNATO integrated command structure due to disputes over its nuclear weapons and does not rejoin until 2009.^[53]
• 1966 – The United States' nuclear stockpile peaks at 31,149 warheads.^[54]
• 1966 - China begins moving its nuclear facilities into the interior during itsThird Five-Year Plan.^[27]
• 1966 - October 27 - China tests a nuclear-armedDongfeng-2 missile, which launches fromShuangchengzi Space and Missile Center and strikes Lop Nur. It is the only time a country has tested an armed nuclear missile over populated areas.^[27]
• 1967 – January – President Johnson claims that the Soviet Union has constructed an anti-ballistic missile barrier around Moscow.^[55]
• 1967 – January – TheOuter Space Treaty prohibits nuclear tests inspace.
• 1967 - February 27 – TheTreaty of Tlatelolco is signed inMexico City, creating anuclear-weapon-free zone inLatin America.^[36]
• 1967 – March 29 – TheFrench Navy launches theRedoutable-class submarine.
• 1967 – June 10 – Israel wins theSix-Day War, hindering thenuclear program inEgypt started byGamal Abdel Nasser.^[56]
• 1967 – June 17 – China successfullytests a hydrogen bomb.
• 1967 – June 23–26 – President Johnson and Soviet premierAlexei Kosygin express a willingness to conduct arms-control negotiations at theGlassboro Summit Conference.^[55]
• 1967 – September – The United Kingdom assists France in thermonuclear weapons development in a failed attempt to lobby France to allow Britain to join theEuropean Economic Community.^[6]
• 1967 – December – Japan, underPrime MinisterEisaku Satō, adopts theThree Non-Nuclear Principles.
• 1967 - The United States provides Iran with a 5-megawatt research reactor at theUniversity of Tehran and supplies of enriched uranium.^[35]
• 1968 – January 28 – Anaircraft accident occurs when an American B-52 bomber armed with aMark 28 nuclear bomb bound forThule Air Base,Greenland, has an in-flight fire and is forced to make a crash landing inNorth Star Bay, resulting in the detonation of the bomb's conventional explosives and the release of radioactive contamination over Greenland. The accident causes the cancellation of Operation Chrome Dome.
• 1968 – February 10 – During theVietnam War,General William C. Westmoreland orders the movement of nuclear weapons toSouth Vietnam during theBattle of Khe Sanh, but is overruled byWalt W. Rostow andPresident Lyndon B. Johnson.^[57]
• 1968 – July – TheNuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty opens for signatures. Thistreaty is intended to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. To date,189 countries have signed the treaty, including the five permanent members of theUN Security Council. OnlyIndia,Israel,Pakistan, andNorth Korea have not signed the treaty (assovereign states).
• 1968 – With its ratification of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,Sweden formally ends thenuclear weapons program it has run since 1945.^[58][6]
• 1968 - During the1968 United States presidential election Curtis LeMay becomes therunning mate of the controversialAmerican Independent Party candidateGeorge Wallace, and advocates the use of nuclear weapons againstNorth Vietnam. The ticket captures 13.5% of the popular vote and wins five states in theElectoral College.^[59]
• 1969 – The United Kingdom transfers its strategic nuclear warheads to itsPolaris submarines away from the agingV-bomber fleet.^[6]
• 1969 – October –President Richard Nixon, as part of his "madman theory" postulating that the Soviet Union would avoid aggressive acts if they feared an unpredictable response from the United States, andNational Security Advisor Henry Kissinger approveOperation Giant Lance, an operation involving nuclear-armed B-52 bombers flying near the Soviet border to simulate an American nuclear attack.
• 1969 – November – TheStrategic Arms Limitation Talks commence inHelsinki,Finland.

• 1970 – TheLGM-30 Minuteman III, the United States's current intercontinental-ballistic missile, is introduced.
• 1970 – TheSoviet Navy considers constructing a base for nuclear submarines inCienfuegos, Cuba.^[60]
• 1971 – March 31 – The United States deploys theUGM-73 Poseidon submarine-launched ballistic missile onJames Madison-class submarines.^[17]
• 1971 – December – India wins theIndo-Pakistani War of 1971, resulting in the independence ofBangladesh.
• 1972 –Zulfikar Ali Bhutto launchedPakistan's atomic program in response to the loss of the war by makingMunir Ahmad Khan as the program head.
• 1972 – March 26 – The SALT I Agreement is ratified between the United States and the Soviet Union, leading to theAnti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
• 1972 – April 25 – President Nixon proposes using nuclear weapons to end the Vietnam War, but is quickly dissuaded by National Security Advisor Kissinger.^[21][61]
• 1972 – May – Pakistani nuclear scientistAbdul Qadeer Khan is employed at aUrenco Group nuclear laboratory inAmsterdam and makes repeated visits to an enrichment plant inAlmelo.^[6]
• 1973 – October – Israel considers using nuclear weapons during theYom Kippur War, while the Soviet Union considers transporting nuclear weapons to Egypt and causes the United States to place its military on high alert.^[62][63]
• 1974 –South Africa secretly decides to pursue a capability for nuclear bombs, ostensibly forpeaceful nuclear explosions.^[6]
• 1974 – TheIranian nuclear program is commenced byShah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who founds theAtomic Energy Organization of Iran.^[64]
• 1974 – May – India tests its first nuclear device, "Smiling Buddha", atPokhran using a core designed byRajagopala Chidambaram.
• 1974 – May – Pakistan'sProject-706 is established under command ofGeneral Zahid Ali Akbar.
• 1974 – November – A major breakthrough in the SALT II negotiations occurs at theVladivostok Summit Meeting on Arms Control betweenGeneral Secretary Leonid Brezhnev andPresident Gerald Ford.
• 1975 – The number of American nuclear warheads deployed in theAtlantic Ocean peaks at 4,500.^[65]
• 1975 - China deploys its first intercontinental ballistic missile, theDong-Feng 4.
• 1975 -Brazil purchases a nuclear reactor from West Germany, a move criticized by the United States and Mexico due to concerns that it will use the reactor to produce nuclear weapons.^[66]
• 1975 – December – Khan returns to Pakistan with photographs and blueprints from his job.^[6]
• 1976 – Khan forms theEngineering Research Laboratories with thePakistan Atomic Energy Commission.^[6]
• 1977 – TheU.S. Department of Energy is formed to maintain American nuclear weapons.James R. Schlesinger is the firstSecretary of Energy.
• 1977 –Walter Pincus reports inThe Washington Post that the United States is developing aneutron bomb, a warhead that causes relatively little blast damage but high casualties due to radiation, for deployment inWestern Europe. The report causes political controversy in the United States, andU.S. President Jimmy Carter cancels the program in the next year.^[67][68]
• 1977 – March – TheBoeing E-3 Sentry is introduced as NATO's primary AWACS aircraft.
• 1977 – July 13 –Somalia invadesEthiopia in theOgaden War, and congressional support for SALT II in the United States weakens as a result of Soviet intervention in the war.^[69]
• 1978 – France begins development of theAérospatialeAir-Sol Moyenne Portée missile.^[70]
• 1978 – South Africa developshighly enriched uranium at theValindaba site nearPretoria.^[6]
• 1978 – Pakistan produces enriched uranium.
• 1979 – TheWarsaw Pact conducts itsSeven Days to the River Rhinemilitary simulation emulating a retaliatory nuclear strike against NATO.
• 1979 – The United States begins to deployTrident I C-4 missiles, its first SLBMs with intercontinental range, aboard itsOhio-class submarines.^[17]
• 1979 - Iran temporarily halts its nuclear program after theIslamic Revolution.^[35]
• 1979 – June 18 – General Secretary Brezhnev and President Carter sign the SALT II Agreement inVienna agreeing to limitstrategic nuclear weapons.
• 1979 – September 22 – An AmericanVela Hotel satellite records a strange double-flash of light near thePrince Edward Islands inAntarctica known as theVela incident. The flash is widely believed to have been caused by a nuclear test, possibly carried out by South Africa or Israel.
• 1979 – November 9 – Acomputer glitch at NORAD creates a false alarm for a Soviet missile launch, and U.S. nuclear forces prepare for a retaliatory strike.^[71]
• 1979 – December 12 – NATO makes itsDouble-Track Decision responding to the Soviet Union's increased deployment ofRSD-10 Pioneer intermediate-range ballistic missiles andTupolev Tu-22M bombers by deploying increased numbers ofmedium-range andintermediate-range ballistic missiles, includingMartin MariettaPershing II missiles andGDBGM-109G Gryphon Ground Launched Cruise Missiles, in Western Europe while continuing to make the Warsaw Pact offers for negotiations. This results in increased east–west international tensions and domestic political controversy.^[72]
• 1979 – December 25 – The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan begins, resulting in collapse of support for SALT II.^[55]

• 1980 – January 3 – President Carter withdraws SALT II from the Senate for formal ratification.^[55]
• 1981 – June 7 -TheIsraeli Air Force conducts anairstrike,Operation Opera, onBaathist Iraq's light-water nuclear reactor nearBaghdad, hindering the country'suranium enrichment andnuclear weapons program. As a result, only a few grams ofweapons-grade uranium is produced by the time the program is ended after theGulf War.^[6]
• 1981 – The United Kingdom's nuclear stockpile peaks at over 500 warheads.^[54]
• 1981 – October – PresidentRonald Reagan announces an update of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, including increased numbers of bombers and missiles and development of new projects such as theRockwellB-1 Lancer, theMX missile, and theMGM-134 Midgetman missile.^[73]
• 1982 – June 12 – The largestanti-war demonstration in history occurs against nuclear weapons inCentral Park inNew York City during a UN disarmament conference.^[36]
• 1982 – TheBDSAGM-86 ALCMair-launched cruise missile is introduced in the United States.
• 1983 – TheTTAPS study inScience first introduces the possibility of anuclear winter, and a co-authorCarl Sagan publishes an article on the subject inParade magazine.^[74]
• 1983 – March 20 – President Reagan announces theStrategic Defense Initiative to defend against a Soviet nuclear attack.^[75]
• 1983 – September 26 – Afalse alarm occurs in the Soviet Union when theOkoearly-warning system malfunctions and erroneously reports an incoming American missile strike. TheSoviet Air Defense Forces command officer at theSerpukhov-15 bunker, Lieutenant ColonelStanislav Petrov, correctly deduces that the alarm was false and does not report it to his superiors, preventing a retaliatory strike.^[76][77]
• 1983 – 2 November-11 November – The Soviet Union, which had been monitoring American nuclear forces through theKGB'sOperation RYAN, mistakes NATO'sAble Archer 83command post exercise for genuine preparations for a preemptive nuclear strike, and places its forces in East Germany and Poland on high alert.^[78]
• 1983 – November 20 – Thetelevision filmThe Day After premieres onABC, significantly changing attitudes on nuclear war. A similar film,Threads, is released by theBBC and theNine Network next year, whileTestament is released byPBS andParamount Pictures.
• 1983 – December 23 – The United States begins its deployment of Pershing II missiles to West Germany.^[79]
• 1984 – Canada no longer allows nuclear weapons to be stored in Canada.^[51]
• 1984 – China joins the IAEA, and under PremierZhao Ziyang expresses a stronger commitment against nuclear proliferation.^[27]
• 1984 -Iranian Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ruhollah Khomenei revives Iran's nuclear program due to the stalemate in theIran-Iraq War and Iran's chronic energy shortages.^[35][80]
• 1985 –International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War is awarded theNobel Peace Prize.
• 1985 – South Africa decides to covertly build nuclear weapons.^[6]
• 1985 – July 10 – TheGreenpeace shipRainbow Warrior issunken by theDGSE at thePorts of Auckland inNew Zealand while traveling to protest French nuclear tests inMoruroa. causing international political controversy.^[36]
• 1985 – August 6 – TheTreaty of Rarotonga establishes a nuclear-weapons-free zone in theSouth Pacific.^[36]
• 1986 – The Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal peaks at 39,197 warheads.^[54]
• 1986 – TheYongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center becomes operational nearPyongyang.^[6]
• 1986 – New Zealand announces anuclear-free zone in its territorial waters, resulting in the unofficial cessation of theANZUS Treaty.
• 1986 – September –Mordechai Vanunu divulges secrets about theIsraeli nuclear weapons program toThe Sunday Times inLondon. Vanunu would be abducted by theMossad inRome and imprisoned.
• 1986 – October 11 – TheReykjavik Summit occurs betweenPresident Ronald Reagan andGeneral Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev.
• 1987 – TheMissile Technology Control Regime is formed by theGroup of Seven to limit proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.^[17]
• 1987 –Yugoslavia abandons its nuclear weapons program.^[81]
• 1987 –Chang Hsien-yi, a colonel of theRepublic of China Army and the deputy director of theINER, defects to the United States and provides the CIA with classified documents revealing a secretnuclear weapons program in Taiwan. The program is shut down by ROC presidentChiang Ching-kuo under pressure from the IAEA and President Reagan.^[82][83]
• 1987 – The United States ends production of nuclear material for weapons.^[40]
• 1987 – December 8- TheIntermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed by Gorbachev and Reagan at theWashington Summit, and is later ratified by both countries.
• 1988 –Switzerland abandons itsnuclear weapons program.^[84][85]
• 1988 – Pakistan reportedly has the capacity to build a nuclear bomb.^[6]
• 1989 – South Africa opts to dismantle the six nuclear weapons it has secretly built amid thenegotiations to end apartheid.^[6]
• 1989 –Communism collapses in theEastern Bloc during theRevolutions of 1989. The Soviet Union and the United States subsequently hold theMalta Summit aboard theTSMaxim Gorkiy announcing the end of theCold War.

• 1990 - July – NATO issues theLondon Declaration declaring its relations with the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union to be no longer adversarial and urging reductions in tactical nuclear forces in Europe.^[86][87]
• 1990 – October 16 – TheRadiation Exposure Compensation Act is ratified in the United States, providing monetary compensation to victims of radiation-related illnesses, including cancer, caused by contact with nuclear testing anduranium mining.
• 1991 –South Africa signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; they also announce that from 1979 to 1989, they had built and then dismantled a number of nuclear weapons. The IAEA confirms that the program has been fully dismantled.
• 1991 – France and China ratify the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.^[27]
• 1991 – June – TheBrazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials is established to play an active role in verifying the pacific use ofnuclear materials that could be used for the manufacture of nuclear weapons inArgentina andBrazil.
• 1991 – July 31 – TheSTART I Treaty is ratified between the Soviet Union and the United States.
• 1991 –Soviet PresidentMikhail Gorbachev signs amoratorium on nuclear weapons testing. The Soviet Union's1990 nuclear test series became its last.
• 1991 – December – The United States withdraws its nuclear weapons from South Korea.^[39]
• 1991 – December 25 – TheSoviet Union, which possesses the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, collapses. Gorbachev hands over thenuclear briefcase, theCheget, to the newRussian PresidentBoris Yeltsin.
• 1991 – December 30 – TheCommonwealth of Independent States ratifies a preliminary agreement to transfer nuclear weapons of the former Soviet Union held inBelarus,Ukraine, andKazakhstan to the newRussian Federation, but to allow their governments to veto their use.^[88]
• 1992 – TheU.S. Senate votes for a nuclear testing moratorium despite opposition fromPresident George HW Bush andDefense SecretaryDick Cheney.^[6][89]Operation Julin is the final American weapons test, and also endsBritish nuclear testing in the United States.
• 1992 – France's nuclear stockpile peaks at over 500 warheads.^[54]
• 1993 – January 3 – The United States and Russia mutually agree to banmultiple independently targetable reentry vehicles through theSTART II Treaty.
• 1993 – Russia formulates a military doctrine de-emphasizing nuclear weapons except in the case of a large-scale global conflict, although President Yeltsin authorizes development of theRT-2PM2 Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile and theBorei-class submarine fleet.^[16][30]
• 1993 – The United States agrees to purchase excess highly enriched uranium from dismantled Soviet nuclear warheads from Russia for conversion into lower-grade uranium for electricity production through theMegatons to Megawatts Program.^[90]
• 1993 – North Korea rejects IAEA inspections and threatens to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.^[91]
• 1994 – January – The United States and Russia negotiate adetargeting agreement that they will no longer directly target each other with nuclear weapons.
• 1994 – After a meeting between Kim Il-Sung and Jimmy Carter and the ratification of theAgreed Framework, North Korea agrees to freeze its nuclear program in exchange foraid, easing ofsanctions, and two civilianlight-water reactors, which are built by the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Corporation.^[91]
• 1994 – TheVanguard-class submarines are introduced by theRoyal Navy as an upgrade of the British strategic nuclear force, and carry American-builtUGM-133 Trident II missiles.^[6]
• 1994 – December 10 – Ukraine agrees to theBudapest Memorandum transferring its strategic nuclear weapons to Russia and dismantling its nuclear infrastructure through the U.S.-sponsoredCooperative Threat Reduction Program in exchange for a guarantee of sovereignty from Russia.^[88]
• 1995 – TheComprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty is ratified by168 states. India, Pakistan, and North Korea have not signed the Treaty while China, Iran, Israel, and the United States have signed but not ratified it.
• 1995 – Russia agrees to complete theBushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Iran that had been commenced by West Germany in the 1970s.^[6]
• 1995 – January 27 – Afalse alarm occurs after aNorwegianBlack Brant XIIsounding rocket launched to study theaurora borealis fromAndøya is mistaken for an Americanhigh-altitude nuclear attack by Russia'sMain Centre for Missile Attack Warning, and President Yeltsin activates theCheget before the error is rectified.^[92]
• 1995 – April – Kazakhstan completes the transfer of its nuclear weapons to Russia.^[93]
• 1996 – January –France performs its last nuclear tests to date onMoruroa atoll.
• 1996 – April 11 – TheTreaty of Pelindaba is ratified, creating anuclear-weapon-free zone inAfrica.^[36]
• 1996 – July 8 – TheInternational Court of Justice rules in itsAdvisory opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons that the use and threat of nuclear weapons is legal underinternational law.^[94]
• 1996 – July 29 – China conducts its final nuclear test.^[27]
• 1996 –Belarus andUkraine complete the transfer ofstrategic nuclear weapons,ICBMs, andstrategic bombers they had inherited after thedissolution of the Soviet Union to Russia through the U.S.-sponsoredCooperative Threat Reduction Program.^[95][96]
• 1997 – France launchesOperation Xouthos, its final nuclear test.
• 1997 – March 21 – France launches the first of itsTriomphant-class submarines.
• 1997 – After the U.S. Senate ratifies the START II Agreement, President Clinton and President Yeltsin begin negotiations forSTART III. The talks collapse due to tensions over NATO intervention in theKosovo War, the1998 U.S. bombing of Iraq, andOperation Infinite Reach.^[97][98]
• 1998 – The United Kingdom decommissions theWE.177 bomb, the final warhead used by theRoyal Air Force and the finaltactical nuclear weapon used by Britain.^[6] The United Kingdom shifts towards exclusive reliance on its strategic SLBM programs for a nuclear deterrent in itsStrategic Defence Review.
• 1998 – May – India tests five more nuclear weapons as part ofOperation Shakti at thePokhran test site. This was India's second round of nuclear weapons testing.
• 1998 – May –Pakistan detonates fivehigh-enriched uranium nuclear weapons in theChagai Hills. A sixth nuclear test, at Kharan, was a plutonium device.
• 1998 – TheIraqi disarmament crisis intensifies afterSaddam Hussein forces the UN inspectors out, leading toOperation Desert Fox.
• 1999 – TheU.S. Defense Intelligence Agency estimates that Israel possesses between 60 and 80 nuclear weapons.^[6]

• 2000 – January – Russia publicly begins to reformulate its doctrine to include the possibility of a nuclear response to a large-scale conventional attack.^[30]
• 2002 –U.S. President George W. Bush refuses to certify North Korea's compliance with the Agreed Framework and links it in an"Axis of Evil" with Iraq and Iran.^[91]
• 2002 – TheNational Council of Resistance of Iran reports the existence of secretIranian nuclear facilities atNatanz andArak. The IAEA inspects them a year later.
• 2002 – TheStrategic Offensive Reductions Treaty is signed by U.S. president Bush andRussian president Vladimir Putin, and is ratified by theU.S. Senate and theRussian State Duma on June 1.
• 2002 – June – The United States withdraws from the ABM Treaty, while Russia withdraws from the START II Agreement.
• 2002 – June – The Group of Eight announces theGlobal Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction at its28th summit inKananaskis,Alberta.^[30]
• 2002 – November 13 –UNMOVIC inspectors return to Iraq after theIraq Resolution andUN Security Council Resolution 1441 to ensure that it has ended itsCNBR weapons.
• 2002 – November 25 – TheInternational Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation is ratified atThe Hague,Netherlands, regulating proliferation of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles.^[17]
• 2002 – December 16 – President Bush issues anational security directive to construct a missile defense system in California and Alaska.^[17]
• 2003 – March 20 – AlthoughHans Blix andMohamed ElBaradei claim there is no evidence that Iraqi CNBR weapons development has resumed, President Bush authorizes theU.S.-led invasion of Iraq. During theoccupation of Iraq no evidence of weapons of mass destruction is found.
• 2003 – North Korea withdraws from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
• 2003 – North Korea announces that it has several nuclear explosives. TheSix-Party Talks begin inBeijing.^[91]
• 2003 – December –Libya announces the closure of itsWMD programs, including an early attempt to develop an atomic bomb using designs from Abdul Qadeer Khan.^[6]
• 2005 - June -Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is electedPresident of Iran and declares that Iran has a right to construct nuclear weapons.^[35]
• 2005 – August – InIran,AyatollahAli Khamenei issued afatwa forbidding the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons.
• 2006 – May – The United States begins preparing missile defense systems in theCzech Republic andPoland.^[17]
• 2006 - April 11 - President Ahmedinejad announces that Iran has produced enriched uranium in defiance of the UN and the IAEA, leading tosanctions.^[99][100]
• 2006 – July – Prior to the32nd G8 summit, Russia threatens to retaliate to missile defense preparations in Eastern Europe by targeting European urban centers.^[17]
• 2006 – October 9 –North Koreatests a nuclear weapon for the first time in theHamgyong Mountains.
• 2006 – December – TheBlair government in the United Kingdom issues a white paper announcing development of a new nuclear submarine using theRolls-Royce PWR3 nuclear reactor.^[101]
• 2008 – TheRussian Navy conducts ten limited patrols with its strategic nuclear submarines, its greatest amount since the collapse of the Soviet Union.^[16]
• 2008 – January – Israel is believed to have tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile, theJericho III.^[102]
• 2008 – November – Poland and the Czech Republic agree to delay deployment of radar sites until after the2008 United States presidential elections and thepresidential transition.^[17]
• 2009 – April 4 –President Barack Obama pledges a "world without nuclear weapons" in a speech atHradčany Square inPrague, Czech Republic.^[103]
• 2009 – November 12 – President Obama announces changes to theNATO missile defense system, including an increased reliance on the sea-basedAegis Ballistic Missile Defense System and theAN/TPY-2 radar, and theRIM-161 Standard Missile 3 missile system.^[17]
• 2009 - October 29 - Iran rejects the Obama administration's first proposal for an anti-nuclear agreement.^[104]

• 2010 – North Korea reveals its new uranium-enrichment plant during tensions from theROKSCheonan sinking, theMay 24 measures, and thebombardment of Yeonpyeong.^[91]
• 2010 – February – Russia issues a revision of its military doctrine limiting the use of nuclear weapons to strictly defensive purposes.^[30]
• 2010 – April 8 – U.S. president Barack Obama andRussian President Dimitri Medvedev sign theNew START Treaty reducing strategic warheads.
• 2010 – May – The United Kingdom releases theStrategic Defence and Security Review under theCameron-Clegg coalition pledging to limit its number of operational nuclear warheads to 120 with 40 per submarine, which it does by January 2015.^[101]
• 2010 – November 2 – The United Kingdom and France agree to closer cooperation regarding nuclear forces in theLancaster House Treaties.^[11]
• 2012 – Russia announces that it will resume regular patrols with its SSBN fleet ininternational waters.^[16]
• 2012 – April 19 – India tests its first intercontinental ballistic missile, theAgni-V.
• 2012 – October – TheMinistry of Foreign Affairs states that Russia will not renew the framework for cooperation with the United States on nuclear dismantlement after the expiration of theNunn-Lugar Act.^[30]
• 2013 – After negotiations between Iran and theP5+1, theJoint Plan of Action is adopted.
• 2013 – June – President Obama proposes reducing American strategic nuclear weapons to their lowest point since 1953 in a speech at theBrandenburg Gate inBerlin.^[105]
• 2013 – The U.S. Department of Defense reports to Congress that thePLA Navy is developing aballistic missile submarine force.^[27]
• 2014 – September 18 – The2014 Scottish independence referendum occurs and support for theScottish National Party begins to grow. Speculations begin on how to withdraw the British nuclear arsenal fromScotland, where its SSBN fleet is deployed atHMNB Clyde and its nuclear arsenal is stored atRNAD Coulport, if it receivedindependence orfull fiscal autonomy.
• 2014 – December – After increasing tensions inRussia–United States diplomatic relations following theRussian annexation of Crimea and theRussian military intervention in Ukraine, cooperation with the United States on securing Russian nuclear stockpiles ends.^[30]
• 2015 – Under theJoint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran agrees to limit its uranium-enrichment operations in exchange for submitting to IAEA inspections and reduced sanctions.
• 2015 – Reports about Russia'sStatus-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System, a system of unmanned underwater vehicles capable of delivering athermonuclear cobalt bomb, leak.
• 2015 – September 12 –Jeremy Corbyn, a longtime opponent of nuclear weapons, wins the2015 Labour Party leadership election and becomesLeader of the Opposition. He proposes ending the Trident programme or removing the Trident missiles' nuclear capability.^[101]
• 2015 – November – TheStrategic Defence and Security Review 2015 announces theDreadnought-class submarines a replacement for Britain's agingVanguard-class submarines and Trident missiles, but is eventually delayed due to "Brexit".^[101]
• 2016 – January –North Korea Hydrogen bomb is 'tested' and confirmed byNorth Korea leaderKim Jong-Un.
• 2016 – May 27 – President Obama becomes the first American head of state to visit Hiroshima, expressing sympathy for victims but not issuing a public apology for the bombings as many expected.^[106]
• 2017 – July 7- TheTreaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the first legally-binding international nuclear weapons ban, is ratified by 90 countries. TheInternational Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons wins theNobel Peace Prize for its campaigning for the Treaty.
• 2017 – September –North Korea conducted itsseventh nuclear test with a yield between fifty and two hundred fifty kilotons, causing aninternational crisis.President Donald Trump adopts more bellicose rhetoric towards the country.^[91]
• 2017 – December 12 – TheNational Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 is ratified, declaring Russia to be in violation of the INF Treaty.^[40]
• 2018 – February – Under President Trump, theU.S. Department of Defense'sNuclear Posture Review announces the first expansion of the United States' nuclear arsenal since the end of theCold War, citing violations of non-proliferation treaties by China and Russia as well as theRussian military intervention in Ukraine and theSouth China Sea territorial disputes.^[107][108]
• 2018 – March 15 –Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman announces on a60 Minutes interview that theKingdom of Saudi Arabia will pursue nuclear weapons in the event of a successful Iranian nuclear test.^[109]
• 2018 – April 27 –Kim Jong-un meetsSouth Korean President Moon Jae-in inPanmunjom for asummit and pledges a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.
• 2018 – May 1 – President Putin announces a major modernization to Russian nuclear forces in his annualPresidential Address to the Federal Assembly, including announcing theAvangardhypersonic glide vehicle.^[30]
• 2018 – May 8 – President Trump announces theUnited States withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
• 2018 – June 12 – Trump and Kim meet at the2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit, the first American and North Korean heads of state to meet, and issue a joint declaration pledging a denuclearized Korea.
• 2019 – February – The United States and Russia withdraw from the INF Treaty.
• 2019 – February 28 – The2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit ends prematurely without a deal, but both parties express commitment to a better relationship.^[91]

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