U.S. Clarifies Nuclear Testing Stance

On Sunday, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright clarified that while the U.S. will proceed with weapons-system testing, it has no plans to resume full-scale nuclear detonations at this time. These upcoming tests are “system tests” or “non-critical explosions” that evaluate components of nuclear weapons rather than triggering a nuclear chain-reaction blast.

The U.S. has not performed a nuclear test explosion since 1992 and continues to observe a voluntary moratorium, even though it signed but never ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear‑Test‑Ban Treaty.

While the directive from President Donald Trump to test nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with other nations sparked concern, Wright emphasised that any tests will not resemble the old Cold War-era blasts and are aimed instead at validating warhead-components and maintaining readiness.

Any live nuclear-bomb detonations would need to be conducted underground per the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963, and such testing remains out of the scope of the current sub-critical and non-yield experiments.