France mounted a nuclear weapons program when it decided that it shouldn't rely on the US nuclear umbrella and established its 'force de frappe' policies.
Israel detonated at least one atmospheric test off the coast of South Africa and in conjunction with the then apartheid/Boer government of South Africa. The recent book by Sasha Polakow-Suransky, The Unspoken Alliance; Israel's secret relationship with apartheid South Africa, describes the arms agreements and political affinity between the two countries in some detail. Later, Israel and the US created a special nuclear weapons development agreement and several Israeli nuclear weapons were tested (underground) at US sites. Israel refuses to sign the NPT treaty but, in the latest twist, demands that Iran abide by it. Testing continues to this day and the US is still actively involved in developing more sophisticated nuclear weapons. Cheers, Lawry On Jul 31, 2010, at 12:49 PM, Jed Rothwell wrote: > That's awful. I did not know there were more than 2,000 tests. On top of > everything else, what a terrific waste of money. > > It is a shame the U.S. conducted more than half. And why the heck did France > need to detonate 210 of the infernal things for? > > I do not see any listed for Israel but I am pretty sure they conducted actual > tests. > > The one good thing in this history was the partial test ban treaty of 1963, > which allows only underground tests. They do not cause much environmental > damage as far as I know. Tests in the atmosphere or underwater are far worse. > I do not know about tests beyond the atmosphere. I do not think anyone ever > did one. There were some in the stratosphere. Even N. Korea abides by the > partial test ban, and conducts only underground tests. There is something to > be said for that. > > - Jed >
