President Donald Trump has ordered the Defense Department to immediately resume testing U.S. nuclear weapons for the first time in more than three decades. Nuclear disarmament experts say the order could escalate testing by other nations, particularly China and Russia.
In a post to his Truth Social account, Trump announced that the Pentagon would start testing U.S. nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China, and that the process would “begin immediately.” He did not specify whether any tests would involve explosive nuclear detonations, where they would occur or what timetable the Pentagon would follow.
Trump’s directive followed Moscow’s publicized trials of nuclear-powered strategic systems.
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What exactly is Russia denying?
The Kremlin denied that its recent trials amounted to nuclear tests. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the trial of the Burevestnik, a nuclear-powered, nuclear-capable cruise missile, “is not a nuclear test in any way,” Newsweek reported, citing Russian state-run media. He rejected any suggestion that Russia had violated nuclear-testing rules.
The Washington Post reported President Vladimir Putin touted a test of the Poseidon nuclear-powered torpedo and praised the Burevestnik trial. Neither announcement described a nuclear detonation.
What is the testing and treaty backdrop?
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More than 2,000 nuclear tests have occurred globally since 1945, but most nuclear-armed states halted testing in the 1990s.
The global standard for testing is the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which bans “any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion.”
However, The Washington Post notes that the treaty never formally entered into force because key signatories, including the United States, failed to ratify it.
Russia revoked its ratification in 2023. Reuters reported this move brought Moscow’s official stance in line with the non-ratified status of the U.S.
When did the major powers last conduct explosive tests?
Tests can generate technical data for new or aging warheads and also serve as geopolitical signals.
The United States last carried out a full-scale nuclear test in 1992, while Russia’s last official test was in 1990 and China’s in 1996, according to the United Nations. The UN recorded more than 2,000 nuclear tests worldwide between 1945 and the global halt among most nuclear-armed states in the 1990s.
Testing largely stopped due to significant environmental and health concerns from detonations. Resuming such tests would not be simple.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, told The Post the United States would likely need at least 36 months to prepare for contained underground tests. While testing has stopped, nuclear stockpiles remain. Russia and the United States maintain the largest arsenals, with thousands of warheads. China ranks third and is expanding, Reuters reported, citing outside estimates.
