US Orders Resumption of Nuclear Weapon Testing:
The US President has ordered the resumption of US nuclear weapon testing after a gap of 33 years (1992), marking a major shift in global nuclear policy.
- The nuclear era began in 1945 with the US atomic tests and bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending World War II, while the Soviet Union’s 1949 test soon intensified Cold War tensions.
- From 1945 to 1996, over 2,000 nuclear tests were conducted worldwide, with India and Pakistan testing twice in 1998 and North Korea six times between 2006–2017.
- The US last tested in 1992, China and France in 1996, and the Soviet Union in 1990; Russia, inheriting the Soviet Union’s arsenal, has never conducted a test.
- Nuclear tests by the Soviet Union in Kazakhstan and the Arctic and by Western nations in the Pacific islands caused radiation exposure, land contamination, and lasting health and environmental harm.
- The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) (1996) bans all nuclear explosions to curb tensions; Russia ratified it in 2000 but revoked it in 2023, while the US has signed but not ratified it.
- Nuclear testing may be resumed to confirm the effectiveness of existing and new weapons and to send strategic messages to rival nations.
