Senior US officials want to dissuade Trump from nuclear weapons tests
Kyiv • UNN
Trump administration officials plan to persuade the president to abandon the resumption of nuclear weapons tests. They believe it is impractical and could cause geopolitical tension.
High-ranking officials of the administration of the President of the United States of America Donald Trump, responsible for energy and nuclear sphere, plan to meet with the White House and the National Security Council in the coming days to convince the American leader to abandon the resumption of nuclear weapons tests. This is reported by CNN with reference to sources, reports UNN.
Details
It is noted that Energy Secretary Chris Wright, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Brandon Williams, as well as representatives of the US National Laboratories - plan to inform the White House that, in their opinion, the explosion of warheads is impractical and could cause geopolitical tension.
Also, one of the sources says that they will be ready to tell the administration that "there will be no tests" related to the explosions of nuclear materials, and will try to push the White House to develop a plan that does not involve any explosions.
Officials hope they can convince Trump to join the NNSA approach.
No issue has been excluded from consideration, as all decision-making authority rests with the president
At the same time, Ben Diedrich, a representative of the Ministry of Energy, denies the idea that agency employees will dissuade the administration from resuming testing.
The Trump administration continues to explore all options in an effort to decipher nuclear tests on an equal footing with other countries
According to CNN, today the US tests all components of its nuclear systems, with the exception of explosive nuclear material in warheads. The last full-scale nuclear weapons test in the US took place in 1992, and this practice was banned by former President Bill Clinton in 1996.
Trump's recent statement about the possibility of resuming nuclear tests came after Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted in October about the successful test of the Poseidon nuclear torpedo.
CNN sources reported that at the upcoming White House meeting, NNSA and Department of Energy officials will state that "there will be no explosions of nuclear materials" and will try to push the White House to develop a safe plan. However, Trump has the right to order tests if he does not agree with the experts.
If the US returns to nuclear testing, it will take place at an underground test site in Nevada, but this requires coordination with the state and consideration of environmental issues.
States show strong resistance to returning to work with nuclear materials as it was done before
There is also the problem of disposing of nuclear waste accumulated over decades of testing in Nevada. The tests had devastating consequences for the health of residents of nearby downwind settlements - from radiation exposure to cancer.
According to CNN, new tests are not necessary because the US has enough data from the Cold War. There are fears that the resumption of tests could become a pretext for China to conduct its own, which would increase geopolitical tensions.