On This Day - What happened 13 February 1960 AD

France is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. France was the fourth country to test an independently developed nuclear weapon in 1960, under the government of Charles de Gaulle.

On 13 February 1960, France became the world's fourth nuclear power when a high-powered nuclear device was exploded in the Sahara some 700 miles south-south-west of Algiers.