The public sentiment towards the potential for nuclear testing is predominantly negative, driven by fears of global security risks, environmental impacts, and the credibility of political leaders, particularly Trump. Many comments express skepticism about the rationale behind resuming nuclear tests and highlight the catastrophic consequences that could ensue. This has culminated in a strong consensus against the actions being proposed, with calls for stability and peace rather than aggression.

Trump

Russia

China

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Understandable, but you should realize that this isn’t the first time we have tested nukes, and it won’t be the last. 

The US has a very special and secretive place where they will test these bombs, far from where you are and far from causing any danger to you. This is something that may sound concerning, but isn’t. 

I recommend you to stay off news as much as you can, the more you read the bigger hole you dig yourself mentally and it’s not healthy, especially for us with anxiety. Focus on things that make you happy, and try not to think of things that make you anxious. Good luck.

Financial_Plankton11

It sounds scary but they have places that are specifically for testing nukes that are plenty far enough from people.

If you’re worried about it because you think it means the US is going to war, they probably aren’t. Idk if you’re from the US or not, so you might not be worried about it. But even if the US did go to war for some reason, they will try to keep civilians as safe as possible. 

Main_Construction225

hfjfjdev

In a nutshell… Trump is an ego 
-maniac (as are a lot of people in his position) he does not want to destroy everything his family has built. He wants to go down in history as a great president too. The nuclear testing is posturing, same as the “emergency” meeting of generals. Putin is doing the same. They are displaying their feathers and puffing out their chests. Peacocking…

Elpdaaged

The best thing you can do for your anxiety is to get off reddit and social media all together.

sexlights

Based on the little I have read here, Russia and China would obtain more technical insight from resuming live full yield testing than the US because they don't spend a billion dollars per year doing plasma physics at NIF etc and their computational models are likely not as robust as US models. Therefore I would say the chance is pretty high they would test if the US tested.

But idk, there are far more learned people here than I.

Malalexander

It's still unclear what POTUS means by nuclear testing, so too early to say if the US would actually detonate warheads. They would definitely begin testing if the US resumes, and it would significantly escalate things. US has NIF, China is building a large laser facility too, and Russia is (slowly) working on one too. Would benefit them far more.

Afrogthatribbits

Russia will definitely begin its own tests. The Duma, obedient to Putin, denounced the previously signed Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty a year ago (meaning that Russia is legally free to resume explosions whenever it wishes). At the same time, intensive work began to revive the Novaya Zemlya test site (this is a major preparatory effort). Putin has long since openly stated that they are ready to begin their tests at any moment (they probably already have plans and schedules) and are just waiting for the Americans to do so first.

Russian hawks like propagandist Solovyov are demanding that tests begin on Novaya Zemlya without waiting for the Americans, precisely as another escalation with the West. Basically, as soon as the US begins testing at home, the Russians won't keep us waiting long, and then the CTBT is dead. China will be next, of course. Or North Korea? India? Long live the new Atomic Age! :)

It would be funny if Yegimon actually starts the underground explosions first. After all, judging by the events of recent days, the reason for all this fuss is the simple technical ignorance of your president, who can't distinguish between a nuclear warhead and a nuclear propulsion system.

But I think the Deep State, which has almost swaddled your American "King," will find a way to explain to him that it's not worth cutting off the branch on which America has settled so comfortably.

Beneficial-Wasabi749

I’d start off by saying this whole thing is odd and I assume we are missing information or Trump isn’t serious because the US has very little to gain from a full scale test. They’ve already tested the most, have the best ability to validate designs with simulations and the “new” warhead designs were specifically created to have their designs validated without actual tests.

With that said I’d argue that if testing does resume the major benefactor would be China. Out of the major nuclear powers they have conducted the least amount of tests by far and are currently expanding their nuclear arsenal at the fastest rate globally. If it did open back up I expect they may conduct the greatest number of tests simply because they have the most to gain from them.

Ghostrider556

Thankyou, China, for simply numbering your atomic tests for easier history.

yarrpirates

Thank you for the later tests in 1976, 1980. These are almost impossible to find and I’ve always been intrigued to see photos or footage since atmospheric nuclear tests were thought to be a thing associated with the 1940s-early 1960s. It’s eerie to see a photo of a mushroom cloud that’s from 1980.

SilverBison4025

The last 3 minutes of Trinity and Beyond is some of the best cinema I've ever seen.

Florida_Man_Revolt

Fireworks to celebrate the End of the World.

DeaconBlue47

Most relevant excerpt:

&gt;Although a full-scale nuclear detonation would be "complementary" to current experiments, "our assessment is that there are no system questions that would be answered by a test, that would be worth the expense and the effort and the time," Don Haynes, a nuclear weapons scientist from Los Alamos National Laboratory told NPR as they walked through the tunnels.

&gt;Indeed Hinderstein says, preparing for a nuclear test is no small matter. While a basic demonstration test could be done in approximately 18 months. Conducting a test that would produce scientifically useful data would likely take years.

Exzelzior

I feel like this would unfortunately lead to more trepidation towards nuclear power, which I think is a bigger deal right now than signaling to Russia. Not saying the animosity would make sense, but we need people to associate nuclear power with energy, not bombs, if we want to really achieve clean energy.

ThatPeskyPangolin

President Trump announced that the United States plans to resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time in decades, citing recent tests by other nations as justification. Experts warn that this decision could significantly destabilize the current global nuclear balance and mark a major escalation in international tensions. The only site capable of hosting such a test is the Nevada National Security Site, located about 60 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Historically, tests there were conducted underground to minimize radioactive fallout, but experts caution that even underground detonations carry seismic and contamination risks that could affect nearby cities, including Las Vegas. The U.S. has not conducted a nuclear test since 1992, relying instead on simulations and scientific experiments to ensure the reliability of its nuclear arsenal.

Trump’s comments follow reports of Russia testing new nuclear-powered weapons, including a cruise missile and an underwater drone, moves viewed as highly provocative with the last major nuclear treaty between the U.S. and Russia nearing expiration. While Trump did not mention Russia directly, his remarks suggested that these developments influenced his decision. Analysts argue that resuming testing could reignite an arms race reminiscent of the Cold War and would do little to strengthen U.S. security. Critics also highlight the enormous financial and political costs involved, with each test potentially costing over $100 million. Many experts maintain that the U.S. has little to gain from restarting nuclear tests, while other nations could benefit more from the technological and strategic advances such testing might yield.

Do y’all think we should restart nuclear testing in response to Russia? What are y’all’s thoughts on nuclear weapons as a deterrent in the first place? Would love to hear y’all’s thoughts!

Numerous-Chocolate15

I’m old enough to remember the right saying how Biden was going to cause a nuclear war by helping Ukraine. Now silence from those same people.

gayfrogs4alexjones

&gt; "All of these big high-rises — including Stratosphere, including the Trump Hotel," she said. "They're not designed for massive, significant seismic activity."

This lady is doing her best to communicate the only thing he cares about - How it hurts him personally.

jupiterslament

My first impression is this is one of those times Trump threatens to do soemthing nobody wants him to do in order to gain concessions.

HoorayItsKyle

I'm not a nuclear scientist, but isn't this purely for optics? At this point, the science of nuclear detonations is fairly well-understood, so an inexpensive (and safe) computer simulation should be able to approximate any real-world tests accurately, correct?

That_Nineties_Chick

I'm pretty sure he ordered this during his first term and it was explained to him how utterly pointless it was.

-Nurfhurder-

I don't think anyone should be surprised by this, given that we now have a department of War

thnxjer

LessRabbit9072

This would set a precedent for many other nations world wide to do the same, one giant step in the wrong direction.

Winter_Criticism_236

Alright, a bunch of scattered thoughts because this is a subject that I’m quite familiar with.

First, the post refers to the Department of War conducting weapons testing, but a nuclear explosive test would be conducted by the Department of *Energy*, so it’s not at all clear that this is about nuclear explosive testing as opposed to merely nuclear-capable *missile* testing. Another bit of evidence for this theory is that it would take years to conduct a new nuclear test, but the post says “immediately”. In Trump’s first term, he called to restore the US’s nuclear test readiness timeframe to be more in line with nominal US policy set by Clinton when the US’s voluntary test hiatus began, versus the current atrophied capability where the US no longer even maintains test shaft drills. An order like that is what you would expect to see again even if a President intended to conduct a new test, with the actual test only being announced once higher readiness was restored.

Next up, the post says that testing will be on an “equal basis”, but no other country has been conducting full-scale nuclear explosive tests. There are two possible meanings to this: either it’s further evidence that he is only referring to missile tests, or he is referring to the persistent US claim that Russia and China are conducting covert underground tests, potentially during mysterious monitoring system outages. These allegations can be found in prior-year State Department &amp;sect;403 arms control compliance reports, available here: https://www.state.gov/adherence-to-and-compliance-with-arms-control-nonproliferation-and-disarmament-agreements-and-commitments/

If this really *is* about nuclear explosive testing, I would highly recommend this article published in the Winter 2019 issue of the National Academies’ *Issues in Science and Technology*, written by the former head of the nuclear weapons program at Los Alamos and the former chief scientist in its Science, Technology and Engineering Directorate: [The Scientific Foundation for Assessing the Nuclear Performance of Weapons in the US Stockpile Is Eroding](https://issues.org/the-scientific-foundation/)

And then this op-ed by the former director of the Defense Nuclear Agency, which references the previous article: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/27/why-america-must-resume-nuclear-testing/

It should also be noted that, by treaty, any new nuclear explosive tests would be fully-contained underground tests like what the US was doing into the ’90s. For those hoping for some fireworks, they weren’t much to look at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld_IVssMUHs

WulfTheSaxon

Alright, so can we at least we agree Trump no longer is a running for the Nobel Peace Prize, right?

TuxTool

impliedinsult

Test this on a island data, shows that nuclear testing goes into are water. Pretty sure some people are getting water without pfos and pfas and now more nuclear water is just what the people need.  Are water on earth circulates throughout the planet and the atmosphone way or another it all gets mixed into the worlds water supply.  But some can afford there own water purification systems for home use that cleans out most of this

Potential_Sun_5679

Nuclear power, water access and AI chips are the new requirement for growing businesses, that's why we're seeing corporations cosy up to gov more than ever before.

thedragonturtle

If it’s necessary to ensure the future safety and viability of our nuclear stockpile, sure.

Just a **** measuring gesture though? Forget it

Groundbreaking_War52

I don't agree with Trump with much, but this makes sense. China has been building nukes like crazy as of late, and Russia has been recently testing strategic rockets. 

MAD sucks, but its the reality that we live in, and it only makes sense that we remain prepared.

spectre1992

[deleted]

This article from The Heritage Foundation came up early in my search results after hearing about Trump’s statements, and I’m surprised I haven’t heard anyone bring this up yet.  Am I the only one finding this concerning?  : https://www.heritage.org/defense/report/america-must-prepare-test-nuclear-weapons

“Alternatively, a Congressional Research Service report notes that “the President can declare a national emergency and waive all ‘applicable statutory and regulatory restrictions.’”

“Ultimately, it is unclear how long it would take to re-establish the National Security Site such that it could handle an explosive nuclear test if ordered to do so by a President. But it should prepare itself to conduct a test within six months from the moment a President gives the order.”

“If the DOE tells a President that the Nevada underground test site cannot be made ready, and a test is therefore impossible, the President would have to either abandon the idea of conducting a nuclear explosive test or seek alternative locations to conduct the test.

If told that the Nevada test site cannot be made ready inside a year, the President may order the above-ground testing of a nuclear weapon—an action prohibited by the aforementioned 1963 Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits the testing of nuclear weapons above ground, in the atmosphere, in outer space, or underwater.21
U.S. Department of State, “Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests.”﻿


“While the United States signed and ratified the treaty under President Kennedy—and has adhered to its requirements for over six decades—the treaty allows a state to withdraw with three months notification if it deems it in its national interests to do so.

In an acute crisis, a President may withdraw the United States from the Test Ban Treaty and conduct an above-ground test either at the National Security Site or in the Pacific Ocean over open water, where nuclear fallout can be minimized. Like the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, from which the United States withdrew in 2019 following Russian cheating on the treaty,  the Test Ban Treaty does not require Senate action for withdrawal—an American President through the Secretary of State can simply give notice of the United States leaving the treaty. “

okyesterday927

It's to send a message to Moscow, and also because we actually really need to do it.   

Whether our current aging nuclear arsenal is still functional depends on the reliability of current computer testing and theoretical modeling, which we can't know whether it's accurate without actually testing some warheads.

JoeCensored

So... am I the only one who knows this comes after Russia tested the viability of using nukes to cause tidal waves?

Ok-Video9141

This isn’t about physics. It’s about optics and leverage.

When politicians talk about “modernizing” the nuclear stockpile, it’s rarely because the weapons stopped working. The U.S. has already invested billions in simulation tech and supercomputing to verify reliability without detonations. The science is fine. What’s really happening is performance art for power.

The “testing” narrative plays well to three audiences:

1. Adversaries: a reminder that America still has the biggest stick.


2. Domestic voters: a show of toughness and nostalgia for Cold War dominance.


3. The defense industry : who never met a new program they didn’t like.



But it’s strategically lazy. Nuclear testing doesn’t pressure China or Russia  it licenses them. The minute the U.S. lights up the desert again, both nations can claim moral cover to accelerate their own programs. That’s not deterrence  that’s escalation theater.

You can call it “madman theory,” but it’s really brand strategy masquerading as statecraft.
It signals volatility, not strength. It alienates allies who count on U.S. restraint as part of the value proposition of our leadership.

The most credible power in the modern world isn’t the nation that can make the biggest boom. It’s the one that can show discipline. The U.S. already won the nuclear arms race. The risk now is acting like we forgot.

Ali6952

This is what happens when you elect a weak man who wants to appear strong

fleeter17

There is not a strategic rationale, except to make the President to be seen as more powerful. A real ego stroke.

One of the reasons why supercomputers were initially developed was to end dangerous nuclear testing with computers that could simulate nuclear detonations accurately.

lazygerm

I think a lot of strategies he uses sometimes try to mimic Ronald Reagan. Who although i can’t stand did do some good work on nuclear disarmament!

I don’t think diplomatically this will matter to much

But this shit is going to wreak havoc on the environment, and raise tensions. Making it harder to negotiate arm control agreements, which i would totally support not wasting money on nukes since we are all screwed if they are used.

Ill_Pride5820

It's completely fucking nuts.  Putin said something about testing a couple weeks ago to distract from something, and Trump wants to be like his "buddy."

gsfgf

It’s from Trump, so there’s no strategic rationale, nor is it credible.

LomentMomentum

Exploding nuclear weapons does nothing to scare anyone, anywhere. This is the same as Trump wanting live shelling bombardment of the California coast to chest beat about his grand weapons.

The Kim family does this to get attention, if the  USA needs to do the same, it's a confirmation of an inadequate standing.

ritzcrv

Guess they'll need to make a new calibration curve for carbon dating...

GroundedSatellite

Testing a few bombs can have some practical reasons. Anything beyond that is as reasonable as a dick measuring contest. 


Just ask yourself, what does a bigger boom get you? If you need to chop off the head of leadership, you're better off focusing on bunk busters and drones. Fat boy and little man on NY would still be enough to effectively take it out of commission. Never mind the improvements we've made on nukes since then.

Sageblue32

Edward Teller might just spring out of his grave at the opportunity!

GeoffSobering

AlmightyBlobby

It’s nothing but tough guy posturing. Everyone but trump and his moron followers know that this is stupid.

frozenhawaiian

"Strategic Rationale" is a funny way to spell worsening dementia lol

DataCassette

Who cares? They will never be used. Another waste of taxpayers money.

Character-Boot-2149

It is strategicwlly designed to get you to stop talk8ng about the Epsteonfiles

Rich_Grand4485

I was assuming this would mean underground nuclear tests, not above ground. Which isn't great, but not so bad. Or is the Cheeto here for the big photo op?

MarpasDakini

It’s a nuclear military parade that will cost billions.  We are beyond Idiocracy.

Kastikar

It’s too stupid for words which is why the idiot in the White House stated it.

Ornery-Ticket834

I don't regard anything said by this regime as credible.  trump and his allies lie like they breathe and respond to being called out for it with a firehose of additional lies.   So we'll have to see what trump actually does and infer what we can of a motive from that.

The thing that concerns me the most in this is trump's sudden interest in nukes.

trump is a very, very damaged person - malignant narcissist is the most common diagnosis, but he clearly has some kind of personality disorder.  That's been evident for decades.  

trump is also dying from what we can see and whatever the dementia hasn't chewed up knows this.  He also, at least theoretically, has the power to take everyone in the world with him and knows this too.  

So when he starts talking about letting off nukes, even in the context of testing, it makes me more than a little nervous.  I'm resigned to the end of the earth as a human-habitable planet (maybe at the poles?) - but really wanted that to come after I die.

skoomaking4lyfe

I dont know if I’d even describe it as “strategic rationale.”

The current president (and some major figures within his administration) views the world as one big dick-measuring contest. His decisions aren’t guided by pragmatism nor principle, but one simple question: “Will this make me look tough?”

Tygonol

This is all about trump swinging his dick about. There is no logic or reason.

VanX2Blade

The irony of this? Obama got his Nobel Peace Prize for pushing non-nuclear proliferation. Trump says crap like this and can't figure out why he didn't get a prize himself.

SageoftheForlornPath

If Trump really wants to lean into "madman" negotiation tactic, he should go for atmospheric testing.  None of that pussy underground crap.

Substantial-Fun7745

shouldhavekeptgiles

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/22/1158529106/nuclear-treaty-new-start-putin

all the treaties are old and broken. no better time than the present to negotiate a new one. 

reddit will do the usual routine of melting down, crashing out, pretending that didn't happen, pretending they never cared, and finally that everything is just as bad if not worse.

tianavitoli

Putin's orders to prepare for potential nuclear weapons tests amid tensions with the US about nuclear testing raise concerns over a renewed nuclear arms race.

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