US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the planned nuclear test was “not significant” and that no nuclear explosion would occur so far.
Sunday’s clarification came three days after President Donald Trump announced he was directing the Pentagon to resume U.S. nuclear weapons testing “immediately.”
What is a “non-critical” nuclear test?
“I think the test we’re talking about right now is a system test,” Wright said on Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing.”
“These are not nuclear explosions. This is what we call non-critical explosions.”
Wright explained that for now, only parts of nuclear weapons will be tested to ensure they function properly and can cause a nuclear explosion. He said these tests would be conducted on the new system to ensure that the replacement nuclear weapon was an improvement over previous models.
“Using our science and computing power, we can simulate what happens in a nuclear explosion with incredible accuracy,” Wright said. “Now we’re simulating what the conditions were that led to that and what that might lead to as we modify the bomb design.”
According to the website of the Arms Control Association, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington, D.C., several non-nuclear explosive technologies could be used to develop, monitor and maintain nuclear weapons. These may also include “subcritical” experiments that use plutonium but avoid nuclear chain reactions.
“In this context, a ‘non-critical’ nuclear test includes the testing of a nuclear weapon’s delivery system or components, but not the detonation of a nuclear warhead,” Georgia Cole, a research analyst at the Chatham House International Security Program, told Al Jazeera.
“Noncritical experiments are typically conducted in laboratories or test facilities, often using sophisticated computer simulations to assess the safety and reliability of non-explosive nuclear warheads. There are also ‘subcritical’ experiments, which are non-nuclear detonations conducted underground, often at former nuclear test sites.”
What did President Trump announce about nuclear testing?
On Thursday, President Trump wrote in a post on his Truth social platform: “As other countries have testing programs, I have directed the Department of the Army to begin testing nuclear weapons on an equal basis.” President Trump signed an executive order in September renaming the Department of Defense as the Department of the Army.
Trump added in his post that the United States “has more nuclear weapons than any other country,” but that China “will have nuclear weapons within five years.”
President Trump justified his decision to test nuclear weapons by citing China’s rapid buildup of nuclear weapons. The announcement came minutes before a meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping that led to a truce on tariffs and restrictions on some Chinese exports of rare earth metals.
On Sunday, President Trump appeared on CBS’ “60 Minutes” and mentioned nuclear weapons, saying, “Russian testing, Chinese testing, they don’t talk about it. You know, we’re an open society. We’re different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it.”
Trump added: “They’re testing, other people are testing, so we’re going to test. And certainly North Korea is testing, Pakistan is testing.”
However, none of the countries Trump mentioned have publicly conducted nuclear weapons tests in recent years, and Trump did not provide any evidence to support his claims. It’s also unclear why he believes China will be able to catch up with America’s much larger stockpile of nuclear warheads in just five years.
“There is no credible evidence that Russia, China, or Pakistan have conducted explosive nuclear tests. The only country to have tested nuclear weapons in the 21st century is North Korea, which has observed a self-declared testing moratorium since 2018,” Cole said.
“All nuclear-weapon states regularly test missiles and other launch systems, but there is no indication that they have resumed nuclear detonations.”
Which country has the most nuclear weapons?
Nine countries possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) yearbook report published in January, Russia possesses the largest number of warheads, at 4,309.
Russia is followed by the United States, which has 3,700 warheads. China has 600, France 290, Britain 225, India 180, Pakistan 170, Israel 90 and North Korea 50.
According to a June SIPRI report, China’s nuclear arsenal is growing faster than any other country, increasing by about 100 weapons each year starting in 2023. A report released by the Department of Defense in December estimated that China is likely to have 1,000 nuclear weapons by 2030.
The United States has retired 1,477 nuclear warheads, and Russia has retired 1,150. Retired warheads are warheads that have been removed from a country’s arsenal and are awaiting dismantling. But a report released in March by the American Federation of Scientists, a U.S.-based think tank, said the decommissioned warhead “is still relatively intact.”
“In some cases, depending on how far along the disassembly process is, it may be possible to technically restore a retired warhead. However, this can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. More commonly, states may reuse parts of old warheads in the production or modification of new weapons,” Cole said.
How many tests have countries conducted?
The United States began testing nuclear weapons in 1945, with the first explosion occurring in the New Mexico desert. The last time it tested a nuclear weapon was more than 30 years ago, in 1992. According to the United Nations, the United States has conducted a total of 1,032 nuclear tests.
The Soviet Union conducted 715 nuclear tests, the last in 1990. Russia, which inherited the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons, has not conducted nuclear tests.
China has conducted 45 nuclear weapons tests, the last time in 1996.
France last conducted a nuclear weapons test in 1996. France conducted 210 nuclear tests between 1945 and 1996. Britain has conducted 45 nuclear tests since 1952, the last in 1991.
Since signing the global Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), introduced in 1996, most countries have stopped testing nuclear weapons.
Since then, 10 nuclear tests have been conducted. According to the United Nations, India conducted this twice in 1998, Pakistan twice, and North Korea six times in 2006, 2009, 2013, 2016 (twice), and 2017. India, Pakistan, and North Korea have not signed the CTBT.
The United States signed the CTBT in 1996 but did not ratify it. Russia signed the CTBT in 1996 and ratified it in 2000, but President Vladimir Putin withdrew Russia’s ratification of the treaty in 2023.
When a country signs a treaty, it indicates its general consent to the terms of that treaty and its intention to comply with that treaty in the future. Only after ratification does a treaty become legally binding on a country under international law.
Should the US conduct new nuclear tests?
U.S. political and scientific officials insist that the United States does not need to conduct new nuclear tests.
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. The agency oversees the security, maintenance, and stockpile management of nuclear weapons. NNSA has repeatedly made clear that the United States does not need new testing.
“The United States continues to comply with the 1992 nuclear test moratorium and has evaluated the nuclear stockpile deployed since 1992 as safe, secure, and effective even without nuclear explosive tests,” the agency’s new director, Brandon Williams, said during his Senate confirmation hearing in April.
Williams added that the director of the National Security Institute and the commander of U.S. Strategic Command annually review the nuclear stockpile to determine whether underground nuclear tests are necessary. According to a 2023 interview with the Arms Control Association, former NNSA Administrator Jill Looby also said no new tests are needed.
Could U.S. nuclear tests spur a new nuclear race?
Experts said that if the United States breaks its moratorium on testing nuclear weapons, other countries are likely to follow suit, as well as parts.
“If the United States resumes explosive nuclear tests, other world powers will almost certainly respond in kind. Russia has already said it will mirror any U.S. tests, and such a move could prompt China and North Korea to follow suit. The result would be a 30-year moratorium on nuclear testing, undoing decades of restraint, and sharply increasing global nuclear risks,” Cole said.
He added that Wright’s explanation that testing is not important is important. “If (Trump) had mentioned explosive testing, as many initially expected, it would mean a dramatic policy shift and a serious escalation of nuclear tensions.”
