<P> During the presidency of George W. Bush, and especially after the 11 September terrorist attacks of 2001, rumors have circulated in major news sources that the U.S. has been considering design of new nuclear weapons ("bunker - busting nukes"), and the resumption of nuclear testing for reasons of stockpile stewardship . Statements by the U.S. government in 2004, however, indicated that the arsenal will drop to around 5,500 total warheads by 2012 . According to recent reports, much of that reduction was already accomplished by January 2008 . </P> <P> Between 16 July 1945 and 23 September 1992, the United States maintained a program of vigorous nuclear testing, with the exception of a moratorium between November 1958 and September 1961 . By official count, a total of 1,054 nuclear tests and two nuclear attacks were conducted, with over 100 of them taking place at sites in the Pacific Ocean, over 900 of them at the Nevada Test Site, and ten on miscellaneous sites in the United States (Alaska, Colorado, Mississippi, and New Mexico). Until November 1962, the vast majority of the U.S. tests were atmospheric (that is, above - ground); after the acceptance of the Partial Test Ban Treaty all testing was relegated underground, in order to prevent the dispersion of nuclear fallout . </P> <P> The U.S. program of atmospheric nuclear testing exposed a number of the population to the hazards of fallout . Estimating exact numbers, and the exact consequences, of people exposed has been medically very difficult, with the exception of the high exposures of Marshall Islanders and Japanese fishers in the case of the Castle Bravo incident in 1954 . A number of groups of U.S. citizens--especially farmers and inhabitants of cities downwind of the Nevada Test Site and U.S. military workers at various tests--have sued for compensation and recognition of their exposure, many successfully . The passage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990 allowed for a systematic filing of compensation claims in relation to testing as well as those employed at nuclear weapons facilities . By June 2009 over $1.4 billion total has been given in compensation, with over $660 million going to "downwinders". </P> <P> A few notable U.S. nuclear tests include: </P>

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