List of military nuclear accidents

This article lists notable military accidents involving nuclear material. Civilian accidents are listed at List of civilian nuclear accidents. For a general discussion of both civilian and military accidents, see nuclear and radiation accidents. For other lists, see Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents.

Scope of this article

In listing military nuclear accidents, the following criteria have been adopted:

1. There must be well-attested and substantial health risks^{[clarification needed]} associated with nuclear materials.
2. To qualify as "military", the nuclear operation/material must be principally for military purposes.
3. To qualify as "accident", the damage should not be intentional, unlike in nuclear warfare.

This list may be incomplete due to military secrecy.

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

See also

• Nuclear technology portal

• 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident
• International Nuclear Event Scale
• List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft
• Lists of disasters
• Nuclear weapon
• Radiation
• United States military nuclear incident terminology
• Vulnerability of nuclear plants to attack
• Broken Arrow (nuclear)

Notes and references

1. The missiles involved in the accident must have been the R-27U version as the original version was retired by 1983. Sources given conflicting numbers on the number of warheads carried by the R-27U, either two or three.

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Bibliography

• Annotated bibliography from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear related Issues and Incidents
• (in French) Jean-Hugues Oppel, Réveillez le président !, Éditions Payot et rivages, 2007 (ISBN 978-2-7436-1630-4). The book is a fiction about the nuclear weapons of France; the book also contains about ten chapters on true historical incidents involving nuclear weapons and strategy (during the second half of the twentieth century).
• Nilsen, Thomas, Igor Kudrik and Alexandr Nikitin. Russian Northern Fleet: Sources of Radioactive Contamination^{[dead link]}. Bellona Report 2:1996, 28. August 1996.
• Eric Schlosser (2013). Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety. Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1594202278.
• The Limits of Safety (1993, Princeton University Press) by Scott Sagan ^{[ISBN missing]}

External links

• ProgettoHumus: From Trinity Test to... List of nuclear explosions in the world
• ProgettoHumus Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine List of all nuclear accidents in the history (updated)
• Bibliography of military nuclear accidents from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine
• Official List of accidents involving nuclear weapons from the UK Ministry of Defence
• Schema-root.org: Nuclear Power Accidents 2 topics, both with a current news feed
• US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) website with search function and electronic public reading room
• International Atomic Energy Agency website with extensive online library
• Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety Detailed articles on nuclear watchdog activities in the US
• Radiation Doses Background on ionizing radiation and doses, World Nuclear Association
• Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety More information on radiation units and doses.
• Radiological Incidents Database Extensive, well-referenced list of radiological incidents.
• 20 Mishaps That Might Have Started Accidental Nuclear War A handy (if somewhat chilling) list of close calls.
• US Nuclear Weapons Accidents list published by the Center for Defense Information (CDI)
• Trinity Atomic Bomb by U.S. National Atomic Museum