selected
October 3, 1952
The United Kingdom successfully conducted its first nuclear test, becoming the world's third state with nuclear weapons.
Operation Hurricane
Operation Hurricane was the first test of a British atomic device. A plutonium implosion device was detonated on 3 October 1952 in Main Bay, Trimouille Island, in the Montebello Islands in Western Australia. With the success of Operation Hurricane, the United Kingdom became the third nuclear power, after the United States and the Soviet Union.
List of states with nuclear weapons
Nine sovereign states are generally understood to possess nuclear weapons, though only eight formally acknowledge possessing them. In order of acquisition of nuclear weapons, these are the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea.