Comment by alnwlsn
4 days ago
Makes me wonder how many living people on earth have seen a nuclear explosion with their own eyes. It can't be very high, maybe 1-10 thousand? Not a number you would want to see increase, to be sure.
4 days ago
Makes me wonder how many living people on earth have seen a nuclear explosion with their own eyes. It can't be very high, maybe 1-10 thousand? Not a number you would want to see increase, to be sure.
Interesting question.
Somewhere between 400,000-550,000 (the number varies greatly depending on source) US servicemen (Army, Navy, and Marines) participated in nuclear tests from 1946 to 1962. As of 2024, about 10,000 were still alive.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/studiog/news/military-veteran...
The French used between 15,000-30,000, but the actual number is secret.
I couldn't find numbers for the Soviet testing program. The Chinese used over 100,000 laborers for their first tests according to Wiki.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_veteran
About 10,000 seems right.
Wouldn’t all of the people watching this from Vegas and LA count?
More disturbingly, around 600,000 people in Japan.