Overview
- Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Fox News that planned activities are non‑explosive “system tests” using non‑critical explosions rather than nuclear detonations, adding there will be no mushroom clouds.
- Wright described the effort as testing other components to ensure proper setup for a nuclear device, while noting advanced simulations guide performance assessments.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon is moving quickly on the president’s directive and will coordinate with the Department of Energy to maintain a credible deterrent.
- President Trump’s Truth Social post ordered testing “on an equal basis” with rivals, but he declined to say whether underground detonations are planned, leaving scope and timing unresolved.
- The move follows Russia’s announcements of tests of nuclear‑capable delivery systems, which Moscow says were not warhead blasts, as experts warn that any U.S. return to explosive testing—paused since 1992 under CTBT norms—could trigger reciprocal steps and erode nonproliferation standards.