The United States is once again at the center of a heated debate over nuclear testing, following President Donald Trump’s suggestion earlier this year that the U.S. would resume nuclear tests. In a surprising move, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to the International Organizations in Vienna, Howard Solomon, defended the idea at the Preparatory Commission of the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) on Nov. 10.
Solomon’s Statement
During the meeting, Solomon stated: “As President Trump indicated, the United States will begin testing activities on an equal basis with other nuclear-armed states. This process will begin immediately and proceed in a manner fully consistent with our commitment to transparency and national security.” He added that the United States has been concerned since 2019 that Russia and China have not adhered to the zero-yield nuclear test moratorium, and that these concerns remain valid.
Solomon explained that the comments referred to super-critical nuclear test explosions banned under the CTBT. Such tests involve compressing fissile material to start a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction that creates an explosion. The treaty prohibits any nuclear explosion with a yield, even a very small one, under a zero-yield standard.
Context of Other Nations’ Activities
“Our concerns with Russia and China are in addition to the activities of North Korea, which has conducted six nuclear explosive tests this century,” Solomon said. The global monitoring network established in 1996 has detected all six North Korean tests, which were of larger yields. However, the network cannot detect very low-yield super-critical nuclear tests conducted underground in metal chambers, experts say. The U.S. State Department did not immediately reply to a request for comment on whether Solomon was referring to low-yield super-critical tests.
China and Russia have signed but not ratified the CTBT, and they say they adhere to a nuclear testing moratorium. Since 2019, the U.S. State Department has publicly expressed concerns that China and Russia have not adhered to their zero-yield testing moratoria. Annual reports on compliance with arms-control agreements to Congress cite possible activities at the Lop Nur nuclear testing site in Xinjiang and Russia’s Novaya Zemlya site in the Arctic.
Trump’s 60 Minutes Interview
In a CBS News interview that aired Nov. 2, Trump remarked: “Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it. You know, we’re an open society. We’re different. We talk about it.” He continued: “They don’t go and tell you about it. You know, as powerful as they are, this is a big world. You don’t necessarily know where they’re testing. They – they test way under – underground where people don’t know exactly what’s happening with the test.” A White House official, speaking anonymously, said the president had directed tests be done “on an equal basis” to other countries. The official noted that other countries have accelerated their testing programs and that Trump wants to act accordingly, but did not provide further details.
Russia’s Response
Solomon’s comments were a reply to Russia’s Permanent Representative to the International Organizations, Mikhail Ulyanov, who had addressed the same meeting. Ulyanov warned that the resumption of nuclear testing could cause “significant damage to the nuclear non-proliferation regime and international security.” He demanded a clear and detailed explanation from the U.S. side and rejected the “completely unacceptable and unsubstantiated allegations” that Russia is conducting nuclear tests, calling them “false accusations” and “escalatory rhetoric.” “We consider such escalatory rhetoric unacceptable,” Ulyanov added.
U.S. Concerns on Non-Strategic Weapons
Solomon countered Ulyanov’s remarks, calling it “surprising to hear such statements coming from a state that has not adhered to the zero-yield nuclear test moratorium.” He cited additional U.S. concerns: Russia’s “ongoing violations” of New START, Russia’s “disproportionately large” stockpile of non-strategic nuclear weapons, and Russian nuclear doctrine. Non-strategic weapons have lower explosive power than strategic weapons but are designed for battlefield use and can still cause immense destruction. Experts consider them dangerous because the threshold for use is lower, and they are not covered by arms-control treaties, making development easier for Russia and other states without oversight.
The Nuclear Notebook, a report by the Federation of American Scientists, highlighted this issue: “Of particular concern is the role that non-strategic nuclear weapons play because it may be this category of nuclear weapon that would be used first in a potential military escalation with NATO.” According to the U.S. State Department, Russia has between 1,000 and 2,000 non-strategic nuclear warheads as of the latest unclassified assessment in 2023, far more than the approximately 200 such weapons the U.S. maintains.
Strategic Nuclear Weapons and New START
Strategic nuclear weapons, which are more powerful and designed to be used deep inside an enemy’s territory, are capped by New START. The treaty, signed by the U.S. and Russia in 2010 and effective from Feb. 2011 for ten years, limits each side to 1,718 and 1,770 deployed strategic nuclear weapons, respectively, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Russia suspended its participation in New START in 2023 but did not withdraw; President Vladimir Putin declared in September that Moscow would adhere to the treaty’s limits for one more year. Trump said in October that the idea sounded “like a good idea.” Without the treaty, which will expire on Feb. 5, the U.S. and Russian strategic arsenals would be unconstrained for the first time in decades.
Key Takeaways
- Trump’s suggestion to resume nuclear testing has prompted a U.S. defense citing concerns over Russia, China, and North Korea’s alleged non-compliance with the CTBT.
- Howard Solomon emphasized that the U.S. would proceed transparently and on an equal basis with other nuclear-armed states, while citing Russia and China’s ongoing violations of the zero-yield moratorium.
- Russia’s representative, Mikhail Ulyanov, warned that resuming tests would undermine the non-proliferation regime and rejected accusations of Russian testing.
The debate highlights the fragile state of global nuclear governance and the differing interpretations of treaty obligations by the world’s nuclear powers. As the U.S. considers a potential shift in its nuclear testing policy, the international community watches closely, wary of the implications for regional stability and the broader non-proliferation regime.
