kiloton

1. A unit of weight or capacity equal to 1,000 metric tons.
2. An explosive force equivalent to that of 1,000 metric tons of TNT.

n. a measurement of the yield of a nuclear weapon equivalent to the explosion of 1, 000 tons of trinitrotoluene (TNT).

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

mechanics 1 000 ton. Relative to explosions, particularly of nuclear bombs, the energy of one thousand (short, long, or metric) tons of the explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT) ≈ 4.2~ GJ (coincidentally ≈ 1 Gcal). The atomic bombs dropped in 1945 on Japan had the energy of about 20 kilotons. Modern ‘tactical’ atomic weapons, relying primarily on fission, have a power in the range 0.1 to 20 kilotons from less than a kilogram of plutonium; ‘strategic’ weapons may be of several hundred kilotons, using fusion triggered by a small fission bomb. See also megaton.

The noun has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: one thousand tons

Meaning #2: a measure of explosive power (of an atomic weapon) equal to that of 1000 tons of TNT