Nuclear tests are suddenly a hot topic of conversation after being largely silent for three decades. Last week, Russia tested a nuclear-powered missile, but did not detonate an actual bomb. In response, President Donald Trump said this week The US will also restart its nuclear arsenal.
So far in the 21st century, the only country to have conducted nuclear tests is North Korea, and those tests have all been underground. The US last tested a nuclear bomb in 1992. Russia’s last test was in 1990. China stopped in 1996.
The most dramatic nuclear tests were those carried out in the open air in the late 1940s and 1950s, producing many other terrifying and terrifying images of the nuclear age. The mushroom cloud has been a threat ever since.
The devastating effects of those trials are still being felt. The US exploration of Bikini Atoll in the Pacific was one of the largest. To this day, contamination from radioactive fallout makes it unsafe for anyone to live there permanently.
Most weather testing ended in 1963, when a partial testing treaty was agreed upon by the US, the Soviet Union and others. It does not include certain methods to ensure that anyone had broken, but it proved to work. The US and the Soviets set the trend and have never gone back. However, France continued to explore above ground until 1974, and China until 1980.
What brought about a perfect test (almost)
Underground testing continued at full strength in the 1980s, limited by the spread of radioactivity. However, the movement was still building to stop the practice altogether.
In 1992, the US put its own morale to the test. Then in 1996, the comprehensive nuclear ban treaty (CTBT) was passed by the United Nations. Ban all nuclear test explosions anywhere in space, sea or underground.
As part of the agreement, a global monitoring system was set up to detect any nuclear tests. Hundreds of sites around the world measure seismic activity, ocean sound waves and radiation in the atmosphere. That way no nations know how to do a nuclear test on sly. This program has received all North Korean tests.
However, CTBTs only go so far. Nine countries have refused to harmonize, meaning it is not legal in their countries. Those include all major nuclear powers and others: the US, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, Iran, Egypt and North Korea.
US President Donald Trump ordered the resumption of nuclear weapons tests for the first time since 1992. The previous day, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had successfully tested the Suclear Torpedo.
Although Russia and China have not conducted any major nuclear explosions in recent years, the US State Department says both countries may have conducted small tests that would have breached the technology.
In 2023, Mikhail Kovalchuk, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Russia should test a nuclear weapon once a year to “scare the West.” But so far nothing has happened.
So, nuclear testing is back?
At least partially, yes. Russia’s test last week was of a nuclear-capable missile capable of carrying out a nuclear war. Putin claimed that it had unlimited scope, could not be tracked and would not be able to shrink. Russia has also developed intercontinental ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, both of which can deliver nuclear bombs.
Then on Wednesday, it emerged that Russia had tested an underwater drone that could deliver a powerful nuclear strike on a coastal city. The detail sounds like it’s from an action movie. The drone, named Poseidon, is designed to explode near the coast and unleash a powerful radioactive tsunami on a large city center. And, Putin, who first announced its existence in 2018, said the drone would be much faster to track or intercept.
As for the US, it depends on what Trump means by resuming testing. It’s not clear if he’s referring to sinister tests like what Russia is doing, or an actual nuclear acquisition.
This past April, the National Nuclear Sealfication Administration, which oversees the US Stockpile, said it was ready to restart underground testing if ordered, but there is no need to do so.
Trump’s announcement this week also contradicts what he said just a few months ago. In August he said he wanted to open talks with Russia and China to reduce or eliminate the nuclear threat. “We will not allow nuclear weapons to proliferate. We must stop nuclear weapons. The power is too great,” Trump said.
