US President Donald Trump ordered the US military on Thursday to immediately resume nuclear testing after a 33-year hiatus, minutes before the start of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
How many nuclear tests have been conducted, why were they stopped, and why would anyone resume them? Answers to these topical questions are provided by a commentary in the Reuters agency, quoted by vesti.bg.
- The Nuclear Age
The United States ushered in the nuclear age in July 1945 with the test of a 20-kiloton atomic bomb near Alamogordo, New Mexico. Then, in August 1945, it bombed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to force Japan to surrender in World War II.
The Soviet Union (USSR) shocked the West by detonating its first nuclear bomb just four years later – in August 1949.
Between 1945 and the adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, more than 2,000 nuclear tests were conducted – 1,032 by the United States and 715 by the Soviet Union, according to the United Nations. Britain conducted 45 tests, France 210, and China 45.
A total of 10 nuclear tests have been conducted since the adoption of the CTBT – India conducted two in 1998, Pakistan also conducted two in 1998, and North Korea conducted tests in 2006, 2009, 2013, twice in 2016, and in 2017, according to the UN.
The last test by the United States was in 1992, by China and France in 1996, and by the Soviet Union in 1990. Russia, which inherited most of the Soviet nuclear arsenal, has never conducted such tests.
Over the past week, Russia has conducted nuclear exercises and tested a nuclear-powered cruise missile and a torpedo, but not a nuclear warhead.
- Why did they stop nuclear testing?
There is growing concern about the impact of testing – above ground, underground and underwater – on human health and the environment.
The West's experiments in the Pacific and the Soviet Union's in Kazakhstan and the Arctic have caused serious damage to both nature and local populations. Activists say millions of people in both countries have had their lands contaminated and suffered health problems for decades.
By limiting massive nuclear testing during the Cold War, peace advocates say, tensions between Moscow and Washington could be reduced.
The CTBT bans nuclear explosions by anyone, anywhere. Russia signed the treaty in 1996 and ratified it in 2000. The United States signed the treaty in 1996 but did not ratify it.
In 2023, President Vladimir Putin officially withdrew Russia's ratification of the CTBT, bringing his country closer to the US position.
- Why would countries resume nuclear testing?
To gather information – or to send a signal.
The tests prove what each new nuclear weapon can do and whether the old weapons still function.
In 2020, the Washington Post reported that the Trump administration had been considering whether to conduct a nuclear test. In addition to providing technical data, such a test would be perceived by Russia and China as a deliberate assertion of US strategic power.
Putin has repeatedly warned that if the United States resumes nuclear testing, Russia will do the same. He says a global nuclear arms race has already begun.
- What are the major powers doing with their nuclear weapons?
The exact number of warheads in individual countries is a state secret, but according to the Federation of American Scientists, Russia has about 5,459 warheads, and the United States has about 5,177. This data includes deployed, stockpiled, and decommissioned warheads.
The Washington-based Arms Control Association says the US has a stockpile of 5,225 nuclear warheads, while Russia has 5,580.
Global stockpiles of nuclear warheads peaked in 1986 with over 70,000 arsenals, most in the USSR and the US, but have since declined to around 12,000, with the largest portion still in Russia and the US.
China is the third largest nuclear power with about 600 warheads, France has 290, Britain – 225, India – 180, Pakistan – 170, Israel – 90 and North Korea – 50, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
