Nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon was a powerful and destructive device based on the principles of nuclear fission . The Eighth Doctor once commented that a nuclear device tapped into the power of the planet itself . ( AUDIO : " The Last " ) Nuclear weapons on Earth . Creation and World War II . German scientist s at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in the 1930s and 1940s were the first human s to discover how to split the atom . ( AUDIO : " The Alchemists " ) During World War II , American scientists , assisted by British scientists as well as scientists from other nation s , developed the first nuclear bomb . With the Allies still at war with Japan in 1945 , the scientists hoped that a demonstration of the bomb on an uninhabited island would be enough to convince the Japanese to surrender . However , the Allies were worried that clearing the Japanese from the Pacific Islands could extent the war for as long as another five year s . The first nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima , where it detonated with the power of 13 , 000 tonnes of TNT , killing 100 , 000 Japanese people and wiping out the entire city . Four days later , and even more powerful plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki . ( PROSE : " Endgame " ) A third bomb was intended for Kyoto but the aircraft carrying the bomb , the " Sky Jack " , fell into a black hole . ( COMIC : " Sky Jacks " ) The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulted in the surrender of the Japanese and the end of the war . ( PROSE : " Endgame " ) Cold War . The scientists who developed the bomb had hoped that it would never be put to practical use . In 1949 , convinced that it was wrong for one country to have a monopoly on nuclear weapons , some of the scientists passed on the secrets to the Soviet Union . They developed their own nuclear weapons , bringing about the nuclear standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union which largely defined the Cold War . ( PROSE : " Endgame " ) The major powers aimed nuclear missiles at one another , ensuring a stalemate through mutually assured destruction . ( TV : " Cold War " ) In 1963 , according to Barbara Wright , the US and USSR had enough bombs between them to destroy the entire population of Earth thirty times over . Ian Chesterton found her attitude surprising given her support for the Conservative Party , but she claimed her view on the bomb was conservative . ( PROSE : " Nothing at the End of the Lane " ) In the 1970s , nuclear missile s were used against Eldrad when she took over the Nunton Experimental Complex , but they had no effect on her . ( TV : " The Hand of Fear " ) In 1983 , Skaldak attempted to launch a Soviet submarine ' s nuclear missile so that the two sides would wipe out all of human ity . ( TV : " Cold War " ) Post - Cold War . In 2008 , agents of Cell 114 attempted to explode nuclear missiles stored in an old mine near Cardiff , but were thwarted by members of Torchwood Three . ( TV : " Sleeper " ) In 2009 , UNIT attempted to fire nuclear weapons at the Sontaran flagship to prevent the Sontaran invasion of Earth , but this was secretly thwarted by a clone of Martha Jones who averted the countdown . As noted by the Tenth Doctor , those missiles wouldn ' t have even dented the Sontaran ship , making him curious as to why the Sontarans would take actions to stop the launch , later finding out that it was to preserve the clone feed that they had spread across Earth . After the Martha clone died , the Doctor had the real Martha continue cancelling the countdown , not wanting to start an interplanetary war . ( TV : " The Poison Sky " ) In the early 21st century , Kate Stewart threatened to detonate a nuclear weapon to destroy London and the Black Archive to prevent the Zygon s from getting everything in the Archive . Kate and her Zygon duplicate fought over the countdown of the bomb , but the War , Tenth and Eleventh Doctor forced them both to cancel the countdown by erasing their memories of who was who so they would be forced to make peace . ( TV : " The Day of the Doctor " ) In the wake of the Southport Incident , the world governments stopped stockpiling nuclear weapons . ( PROSE : " Just War " ) Nuclear weapons on other planets . On Skaro , nuclear weapons were used early on in the Thousand Year War . In the later years of the war , the combatants were reduced to primitive weaponry . ( TV : " Genesis of the Daleks " ) On Dulkis , the Dulcian s tested nuclear weapons on the Island of Death , and were so horrified by their destructive capabilities that they outlawed war . ( TV : " The Dominators " ) Nuclear weapons were also used in the war between the Argolin s and the Foamasi . ( TV : " The Leisure Hive " ) The Marshal of Atrios attempted to end the war between Atrios and Zeos by firing a nuclear missile from his Command Capsule at Zeos , but the Fourth Doctor redirected his attack onto the Third planet . ( TV : " The Armageddon Factor " ) On Alrakis , Tonska rebels used a nuclear bomb to destroy Zaniah ' s laboratories , inadvertently allowing a Cerunnos to escape to Earth . ( PROSE : " . . . And Eternity in an Hour " ) On Mars , a nuclear device was used by Adelaide Brooke to destroy Bowie Base One on 21 November 2059 after an infection known as the Flood broke loose . ( TV : " The Waters of Mars " ) On Sunday , a swamp monster attempted to blow itself up with a nuclear weapon , thus spreading itself across the Galaxy . ( PROSE : " Wetworld " ) Alternate timelines . In an alternative timeline , it was thought that U . S . President John F . Kennedy would have started a nuclear war on 22 January 1964 if he had not been assassinated on 22 November 1963 . ( PROSE : " Who Killed Kennedy " ) In another alternative timeline created by the Elder Gods in the hope of destroying Earth , World War III broke out on 9 November 1989 between the United States and its allies including the United Kingdom on the one hand and the Soviet Union on the other hand . Given that nuclear weapons were used by both sides , hundreds of millions of people were killed in the conflict . This timeline was ultimately negated by the Seventh Doctor . ( AUDIO : " Protect and Survive " )