(ProsperNews.net) – The United States has conducted nuclear tests in Nevada as Russia revoked its ban on testing, saying it was now on par with the US. The American tests, conducted on October 18, used chemicals and radioisotopes to “validate new predictive explosion models,” which can help detect atomic explosions in other countries.
Corey Hinderstein, Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration, said the aim is to reduce the global nuclear threat by improving detection methods, but some analysts suggest the timing of the tests sent a clear message to Russia.
Moscow withdrew from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty on October 17, and critics say the move signals a possible restart of a global weapons race. Andrey Baklitskiy from the UN Institute for Disarmament Research said, “We are not yet in a terrible place, but we are in a bad place.”
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was created in 1996 and intended to prevent countries from testing nuclear weapons, which experts say deters weapons races because leaders are prevented from developing new and deadlier nuclear arms. While not all formally committed to the treaty, the world’s nuclear powers have adhered to its intent.
The treaty furthermore created the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which monitors weapons testing across the globe. Based in Vienna, Austria, the CTBTO uses seismographs, hydrophones, and radionuclide detectors to detect nuclear weapons and has successfully picked up on detonations carried out by North Korea’s communist dictator Kim Jong Un.
Russia also pulled out of another nuclear program this year when Moscow announced in February that it would no longer adhere to the New START agreement. In an address to the Russian people marking the first anniversary of the war with Ukraine, President Putin said the West wants “to inflict a strategic defeat on us and claim our nuclear facilities.” The New START agreement limits the number of nuclear warheads that Russia and the US can hold.
Copyright 2023, ProsperNews.net
