Underground and underwater nuclear tests

[sarahfee]

How and where exactly is this done underwater as I'm sure the powers that be cannot set off a nuclear weapon anytime and anyplace and I was perplexed wondering whether these are maybe buried under the sea as oposed to just being let off in the water also do these contain any nuclear material at all? Surely to have a nuclear test then you have to use a nuclear weapon as a test done without any nuclear material then defeats the purpose right? With the tests done in mysterious bunkers under the deserts, just how is this done and how big deep and strong must these bunkers have to be in order to be able to conduct a safe test, also what exactly is the nature of these tests because I assume they are not done in order to test structural damage? (Please don't tell me this is classified information) And when they have finished do they send in scientists to check things out as I'm sure even the best radioactive suits are not going to offer 100% protection for an ample amount of time in confined space though I could be wrong.
I apologise for the abundance of questions but decided as they were all related it would be better to squeeze them all into one thread than fill up the science section with many similar related questions.

[Old_Geezer]

No expert but I think you build bunkers to protect people, not contain nuclear explosions. My guess is that one drills a deep hole, shoves one's bomb down it, and sets it off from far away. I'd also suspect that any post-boom investigation is done with equipment far from the site. Although readings taken during the explosion would be useful too.

[jake-the-peg]

There is meant to be a test ban on Nuclear tests but this has not yet come into force as some countries are holding out.

The test "bunkers" are destroyed in the detonations they don't contain the blast the surrounding rock is meant to do that

The effects are remotely monitored any cameras or instrumentation is of course destroyed in the blast

Quite a lot of detail here:

http://en.wikipedia.o...round_nuclear_testing

Including a formula for calculating the depth required depending on the size of the explosion.