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An Australian Army Mk 3 Centurion Type K was involved in a small nuclear test at Emu Field in Australia in 1953 as part of Operation Totem 1.

It was placed less than 500 yards (460 m) from the 9.1kt blast with its turret facing the epicentre, left with the engine running and a full ammunition load. Examination after detonation found it had been pushed away from the blast point by about 5 feet (1.5 m), pushed slightly left and that its engine had stopped working, only because it had run out of fuel. Antennae were missing, lights and periscopes were heavily sandblasted, the cloth mantlet cover was incinerated, and the armoured side plates had been blown off and carried up to 200 yards (180 m) from the tank. Remarkably, though, the tank could still be driven from the site. Had it been manned, the crew would probably have been killed by the shock wave.

Subsequently nicknamed The Atomic Tank, was later used in the Vietnam War.

The Atomic Tank is now located at Robertson Barracks in Palmerston, Northern Territory. Although other tanks were subjected to nuclear tests, The Atomic Tank is the only tank known to have withstood atomic tests and subsequently gone on for another 23 years of service, including 15 months on operational deployment in a war zone.