Alternatives To Full-scale Testing
Hydronuclear tests study nuclear materials under the conditions of explosive shock compression. They can create sub-critical conditions, or supercritical conditions with yields ranging from negligible all the way up to a substantial fraction of full weapon yield.
Critical mass experiments determine the quantity of fissile material required for criticality with a variety of fissile material compositions, densities, shapes, and reflectors. They can be sub-critical or super-critical, in which case significant radiation fluxes can be produced. This type of test resulted in several criticality accidents.
Sub-critical (or cold) tests are any type of tests involving nuclear materials and possibly high-explosives (like those mentioned above) that purposely result in no yield. The name refer to the lack of creation of a critical mass of fissile material. They are the only type of tests allowed under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
Additionally, there have been simulations of the effects of nuclear detonations using conventional explosives (such as the Minor Scale U.S. test in 1985). The explosives might be spiked with radioactive materials to simulate fallout dispersal.
Read more about this topic: Nuclear Weapons Testing
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