March 9, 2024 (EIRNS)—The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has devoted a large part of its March issue to the matter of nuclear testing. In the introduction to the package, author François Diaz-Maurin, the Bulletin’s associate editor for nuclear affairs, reports that there is evidence that a number of countries are preparing to resume testing despite their statements to the contrary.
“Satellite imagery has shown increased construction activities happening since 2021 in recent years at nuclear testing sites in the United States, Russia, and China—the world’s three largest nuclear powers,” he writes. “Experts believe that Russia and China are currently expanding underground tunnels at their nuclear test sites of Novaya Zemlya and Lop Nur, respectively. In the United States, the National Nuclear Security Administration is also expanding the Nevada Test Site, officially to improve the diagnostic capabilities for the management and performance of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, without the need to conduct any more underground nuclear explosive tests. But, at the same time, the United States maintains a policy of readiness, by which the country is prepared to conduct a nuclear test within six months should one of its adversaries conduct one.”
