Restarting testing is a bad idea. However this is a false equivalence. H-Bombing an island nation isn't the same as testing. Underground testing in the middle of nowhere NM has very little consequence to anyone. Restarting testing is unnecessary and a very bad precedent to set, but The Marshall Islands have nothing to do with it.
I think your point is missing the big picture. The US starting testing again -- even underground -- would likely start other countries testing again, at least some of which would happen aboveground.
No reason to think this is true, All the major powers (US, Russia, China) have extensive underground testing capacity. All the recent powers have only done underground testing (Pakistan, India, North Korea). China was the last country to do an above ground test, in 1980, the 22 tests they've done since then were all underground.
I agree that restarting nuclear weapon testing is a bad idea but Russia has already taken that step by conducting several test flights of the 9M730 Burevestnik nuclear powered cruise missile. It isn't a bomb, but flying an unshielded open cycle nuclear engine is in some ways even worse.
How do we know that underground testing has little consequences if all the sites are national security zones. What we do know is that the underground geology is likely permanently compromised, at least within any meaningful time frame, and all nearby aquifers and other water deposits are poisoned for all intents and purposes into the distant future. These tests are ecological horrors that are unnecessary and destructive.
An interesting side effect of the US testing and association with Marshall Islands is that they were offered entry in the compact of free association, allowing Marshalese citizens mostly free travel and work rights to come to the USA and work and reside without a visa. Which offers . And vice versa, US citizen can live and work indefinitely in Majuro without visa.
About as many Marshallese live in USA as on the islands.
This article is in response to Trump's declaration that the USA is starting nuclear weapons testing, the the energy secretary clarified that these are "non-critical" tests, i.e. they are testing the non-nuclear parts of the weapon but will not be causing any nuclear explosions.
"These are not nuclear explosions," Wright told Fox News on Sunday. "These are what we call non-critical explosions."
"Americans near historic test sites such as the Nevada National Security Site have no cause for concern," Wright said. "So you're testing all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry, and they set up the nuclear explosion."
We've been doing sub-critical component tests at the NNTS since the end of full-scale testing. So Wright is attempting to make it sound like there won't really be a change of policy, but with these guys who knows. It's not like Il Douche has any clue what he's talking about.
"The Marshales caught by fallout got 175 wrenchons of radiation.
These are fishing people, savages by our standards.
So a cross-section was brought to Chicago for testing. The first was John,
the mayor of Rangala Battle. John, as we said, is a savage, but a
happy aminable savage."
I think restarting LIMITED testing is necessary to stay on top of technology and safety. Testing bombs is a BAD idea, but I'm not opposed to affirming the nuclear package and delivery systems are still viable and advancing in safety and all forbid for use.
The land/water distinction (or lack thereof) could use some work. I spent way too long trying to figure out what I was looking at before I released we were zoomed all the way out and the dark blue was land while the light blue was water.
US atmospheric testing ended over 60 years ago. Underground testing doesn't "scar a nation". If nuclear deterrence relies on functional weapons, an underground test every few decades seems prudent. The last test was 1992. This article is fearmongering.
> If nuclear deterrence relies on functional weapons
I don't think it does. No one will mess with you if you merely have one bomb let alone the US which has 5k+ warheads and a triad of delivery mechanisms. Blowing up nuclear bombs anywhere for "testing" purposes is stupid.
How do you know they work? We haven't tested one in 33 years. Are you still confident after 50 years? 75 years? We all see the problems with aging physical infrastructure - bridges collapsing, dams failing. If you are relying on nuclear weapons as the primary deterrent to stop major wars, they need to work, and people need to know and believe they work. The cost is negligible.
I guess it depends on what you mean by 'scar'. Certainly the NNTS looks plenty scarred by the hundreds of subsidence craters left behind by the tests. Only once in a while would there be a leak like the Baneberry test in 1970. And plenty of the folks working in the test area were 'scarred', by radiation sickness, leukemia, etc.
Readit News
No reason to think this is true, All the major powers (US, Russia, China) have extensive underground testing capacity. All the recent powers have only done underground testing (Pakistan, India, North Korea). China was the last country to do an above ground test, in 1980, the 22 tests they've done since then were all underground.
https://apnews.com/article/russia-putin-ukraine-nuclear-miss...
About as many Marshallese live in USA as on the islands.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpd26yxxx3lo
"These are not nuclear explosions," Wright told Fox News on Sunday. "These are what we call non-critical explosions."
"Americans near historic test sites such as the Nevada National Security Site have no cause for concern," Wright said. "So you're testing all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry, and they set up the nuclear explosion."
"The Marshales caught by fallout got 175 wrenchons of radiation. These are fishing people, savages by our standards.
So a cross-section was brought to Chicago for testing. The first was John, the mayor of Rangala Battle. John, as we said, is a savage, but a happy aminable savage."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auRQg7AaE-U
Reminds me of this scene from Arrested Development https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/28b0326d-cba4-4d26-8c54-977f04b...
I don't think it does. No one will mess with you if you merely have one bomb let alone the US which has 5k+ warheads and a triad of delivery mechanisms. Blowing up nuclear bombs anywhere for "testing" purposes is stupid.
of course it is, it's CNN