Editing Nuclear weapon (section)

== Non-weapons uses ==
{{Main|Peaceful nuclear explosion}}
Peaceful nuclear explosions are [[nuclear explosion]]s conducted for non-military purposes, such as activities related to [[economic development]] including the creation of [[canal]]s. During the 1960s and 1970s, both the United States and the Soviet Union conducted a number of PNEs.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://scienceandglobalsecurity.org/archive/sgs07nordyke.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=May 14, 2024 |archive-date=May 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240514144116/https://scienceandglobalsecurity.org/archive/sgs07nordyke.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The United States created plans for several uses of PNEs, including [[Project Plowshare|Operation Plowshare]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.osti.gov/opennet/reports/plowshar.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=May 14, 2024 |archive-date=April 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240403165317/https://www.osti.gov/opennet/reports/plowshar.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Six of the explosions by the Soviet Union are considered to have been of an applied nature, not just tests.

The United States and the Soviet Union later halted their programs. Definitions and limits are covered in the Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty of 1976.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0248/whpr19760527-013.pdf |date=May 28, 1976 |title=Announcement of Treaty on Underground Nuclear Explosions Peaceful Purposes (PNE Treaty) |publisher=Gerald R. Ford Museum and Library |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305223640/https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0248/whpr19760527-013.pdf |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |access-date=February 22, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=6245 |title=Gerald R. Ford: "Message to the Senate Transmitting United States-Soviet Treaty and Protocol on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Explosions", July 29, 1976 |last1=Peters |first1=Gerhard |last2=Woolley |first2=John T |publisher=University of California – Santa Barbara |website=The American Presidency Project |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303170850/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=6245 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |access-date=February 22, 2016 }}</ref> The stalled [[Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty]] of 1996 would prohibit all nuclear explosions, regardless of whether they are for peaceful purposes or not.<ref>{{cite web|title=Status of Signature and Ratification |url=https://www.ctbto.org/the-treaty/status-of-signature-and-ratification/|website=ctbto dot org|publisher=CTBT Organization Preparatory Commission |access-date=December 29, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161228205543/http://ctbto.org/the-treaty/status-of-signature-and-ratification |archive-date=December 28, 2016}}</ref>