Nuclear Proliferation Timeline

1939 Oct 21 Advisory Committee on Uranium Holds Meeting Determining the Potential for Weaponizing of Uranium Ore
In August 1939, prominent physicists Leó Szilárd and Eugene Wigner drafted the Einstein–Szilárd letter, which warned of the potential development of "extremely powerful bombs of a new typ...
1945 Aug 6 United States Drops Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
"My God, what have we done?" —Robert Lewis, Commander of the 'Enola Gay'
1945 Aug 9 United States Drops Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear attacks near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at the executive order of U.S. Preside...
1945 Sep 5 Igor Gouzenko Defects from USSR to Canada, Providing Evidence of a Soviet Spy Ring in Western Countries
Igor Sergeyevich Gouzenko (January 13, 1919, Rogachevo, Soviet Union – June 28, 1982, Mississauga, Canada) was a cipher clerk for the Soviet Embassy to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. He defec...
1946 Feb 22 George F. Kennan Writes the Long Telegram
G. F. Kennan had been stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow as minister-counselor since 1944. Although highly critical of the Soviet system, the mood within the U.S. State Department wa...
1949 Aug 29 The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb to become the world's second nuclear power.
The RDS-1 (Russian: РДС-1), was the Soviet Union's first nuclear weapon test. It is also known as Joe-1, in reference to Joseph Stalin. It was test-exploded on 29 August 1949, at Semipala...
1952 Oct 3
8:00AM
 United Kindgom tests its first atomic bomb to become the world's third nuclear power, code named Operation Hurricane
Operation Hurricane was the test of the first British atomic device on 3 October 1952. A plutonium implosion device was detonated in the lagoon between the Montebello Islands, Western Aus...
1960 Feb 13 France tests its first atomic bomb to become the world's fourth nuclear power, code named Gerboise Bleue
Gerboise Bleue ("blue jerboa") was the name of the first French nuclear test. It was an atomic bomb detonated in the middle of the Algerian Sahara desert on 13 February 1960, during the A...
1962 Oct 14 United States U-2 Reconnaissance Mission Discovers SS-4 Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) Sites in Varying Stages of Readiness
The first consignment of SS-3 MRBMs (medium range ballistic missiles) arrived on the night of September 8, followed by a second on September 16. The Soviets were building nine sites — six...
1962 Oct 28
9:00AM
 Khruschev Announces Soviet Union will Remove Missiles from Cuba in Radio Moscow Address
After much deliberation between the Soviet Union and Kennedy's cabinet, Kennedy secretly agreed to remove all missiles set in Turkey on the border of the Soviet Union in exchange for Khru...
1963 Oct 7 President Kennedy Ratifies the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
The Treaty banning Nuclear Weapon Tests In The Atmosphere, In Outer Space And Under Water, often abbreviated as the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT), Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT), or Nucl...
1964 Oct 16 China tests its first atomic bomb to become the world's fifth nuclear power, code named 596
596 is the codename of the People's Republic of China's first nuclear weapons test, detonated on October 16, 1964 at the Lop Nur test site. It was a uranium-235 implosion fission device a...
1970 Mar 5 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Ratified
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT or NNPT) is a treaty to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, opened for signature on Jul...
1974 May 18
8:05AM
 India tests its first atomic bomb to become the world's sixth nuclear power, code named Smiling Buddha
While touring the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) on 7 September 1972 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave verbal authorization to the scientists there to manufacture the nuclear device...
1998 May 28
3:16PM
 Pakistan tests its first atomic bomb to become the world's seventh nuclear power, code named Chagai-I
Chagai-I refers to the nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan in 1998. It was named Chagai-I as the tests were conducted in the Chagai District (Baluchistan province). Plans to conduct a nuc...
2006 Oct 9 North Korea tests its first atomic bomb to become the world's eighth nuclear power
North Korea’s Nuclear Test: Motivations, Implications, and U.S. Options On October 9, 2006, North Korea announced it conducted a nuclear test. After several days of evaluation, U.S. au...
2009 May 27 North Korea Withdraws from 1953 Armistice
SEOUL (AFP) — North Korea said Wednesday it was abandoning the truce that ended the Korean war and warned it could launch a military attack on the South, two days after testing an atomic ...
2009 Jun 2 Kim Jong-il Names Successor
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, has named his youngest son as his successor, South Korean newspaper reports said today , the latest in a series of dramatic developments in the world...
2009 Jun 8 North Korea sentences 2 American journalists to 12 years hard labor
A North Korean court sentenced two U.S. journalists to 12 years in a labor camp Monday, as the government of Kim Jong Il continued to ratchet up tension with the United States and its nei...
2009 Jun 15 President Obama Welcomes President Lee Myung-Bak in Washington
As North Korea threatens nuclear war, President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will be eager to show the North the unity of their alliance and a determination not t...
2009 Jun 17 US Begins Tracking North Korean Freighter Suspected of Carrying Prohibited Materials
A North Korean ship shadowed by an American Navy destroyer and possibly heading toward Myanmar on Sunday could pose the first test of how far the United States and its allies will go unde...
2009 Jun 22 North Korea declares itself "proud nuclear power," warns U.S.
"I don't want to speculate on hypotheticals. But I do want to give assurances to the American people that the T's are crossed and the I's are dotted." —U.S. President Barack Obama
2009 Jul 1 Suspect North Korean Ship Trailed by US Navy Reverses Course
A North Korean cargo ship being closely tailed by the United States Navy appears to be changing course, and may be returning to North Korea. The ship has come to be seen as an initial tes...
2009 Jul 4 North Korea Fires Seven More Ballistic Missiles
US Vice President Joseph Biden on Sunday dismissed North Korea's latest series of missile launches, saying the communist regime was engaged in "attention seeking" as it faced increasing i...
2009 Jul 6 President Obama Arrives in Moscow to Discuss Arms Controls
The United States and Russia, seeking to move forward on one of the most significant arms control treaties since the end of the cold war, have reached a preliminary agreement on cutting e...
2009 Sep 21 Iran Reveals Existence of Hidden Nuclear Facility Ahead of Revelation by US Intelligence
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday his country's newly disclosed nuclear fuel facility was legal and open for inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency. T...
2009 Sep 24 United Nations Passes Resolution Aimed at Reducing Spread of Nuclear Weapons
The resolution, ratified without dissent by the heads of state of the 15-member council, is the most tangible success of President Barack Obama's first U.N. General Assembly week. Mr. Oba...
2009 Oct 5 North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il Tells Chinese Premier He is Willing to Return to Nuclear Disarmament Talks
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told the visiting Chinese premier Monday that his country was willing to return to six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations provided progress is made in...
2009 Oct 12 North Korea Test-Fires Five Short-Range Missiles.
North Korea has test-fired five short-range missiles off the east coast of the peninsula, South Korea's Yonhap news agency has reported. The North had declared a "no-sail zone" off its...
2009 Oct 13 Russia Rejects New Sanctions Against Iran to Deter Nuclear Program
Threatening Iran with harsh new sanctions to advance negotiations over its nuclear program would be “counterproductive,” Russia’s foreign minister said Tuesday, throwing cold water on the...
2009 Oct 21 Western Powers Back Iran Uranium Proposal at Vienna Talks
The United States has tentatively endorsed a U.N. proposal for France and Russia to refine a large portion of Iran's low-enriched uranium for use at a Tehran medical research reactor, eli...
2009 Oct 24 UN Inspectors Arrive in Iran to Visit Previously Secret Nuclear Facility
A team of UN inspectors has arrived in Iran to visit a controversial uranium enrichment plant near the town of Qom. The four scientists were due to inspect the facility on Sunday, as W...
2009 Dec 16 President Obama Sends Letter to Kim Jong-il in Effort to Restart Nucear Disarmament Talks
Barack Obama has sent a letter to North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il to persuade him to return to nuclear disarmament talks. The US president's special envoy, Stephen Bosworth, delivered...
2010 Mar 18 South Korean Defense Minster States that North Korea is Believed to be Continuing Uranium Enrichment and has Over 1,000 Missiles Stockpiled
In a sign that it will not give up its atomic ambitions, North Korea is believed to have some 1,000 missiles, including intermediate-range and Scud missiles, and is continuing to produce ...
2010 Aug 17 US Ambassador John Bolton Warns Israel of Fleeting Chance to Strike Iranian Nuclear Reactor
Israel has only mere days to launch an attack on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor if Russia makes good on its plan to deliver fuel there this weekend, former US ambassador to the UN John Bo...
2010 Aug 20 Iran Gains First Nuclear Power Plant
Iran, under United Nations sanctions for its nuclear program, today will end a 36-year quest to join the club of atomic-powered nations when Russia’s Rosatom Corp. switches on a reactor a...
2011 Nov 8 IAEA Releases Report indicating Iran Continues to Pursue Nuclear Weapons
An IAEA report on nuclear verification in Iran was circulated on 8 November 2011 to the Agency's Board of Governors and the UN Security Council. The Agency's 35-member Board of Governo...
2012 Apr 13 North Korea Rocket Launch Fails, Setback for New Leader Kim Jong-un
While the UN security council prepares to discuss its limited options in response to Friday's failed rocket launch, the repercussions inside North Korea should prove far more illuminating.