§ 70. Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many nuclear devices have been exploded by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as part of its military development over each of the past three years; what appeared to be the size of the explosion in each case; how the strength compared with that at Hiroshima; and to what extent they complied with the test ban provisions.
§ Mr. PymIt would not be in the public interest to disclose detailed information, but seismic monitoring indicates that there have been at least 50 underground nuclear tests in the USSR, associated with military development programmes, during the past three years. The estimation of yields by seismic
1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 (£million) Defence research … 66 86 107 123 129 167 Civil research … 16 18 22 23 24 33 The civil research includes aerospace programmes undertaken on behalf of the Department of Industry and the Civil Aviation Authority under repayment arrangements.
The organisations funded under these arrangements included a wide range of industrial firms, research associations and universities. It is not the practice to give details of the very large number of projects involved.