Trump Orders Pentagon to Resume Nuclear Weapons Testing
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are fighting the restart of American nuclear weapons testing, which may be focused on the delivery system rather than detonation.
President Donald Trump has recently ordered the resumption of U.S. nuclear weapons testing, marking the move to end the moratorium on such activities since they began in 1992.
Trump asserted this move is necessary to keep pace with alleged nuclear activities by Russia and China, claiming that the U.S. must maintain parity in both capability and credibility.
“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,” Trump said on Truth Social shortly before his highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea. “That process will begin immediately.”
The last confirmed nuclear test by the United States was in 1992, when President George H.W. Bush announced a moratorium on underground nuclear testing. The United States has the ability to resume tests at a federal site in Nevada.
China’s last known testing of a nuclear weapon was in 1996, and Russia’s recent weapons testing did not detonate a nuclear weapon, just the delivery technology.
Trump, who has lately sharpened his rhetoric about U.S. military capabilities, said the decision to resume testing was about reaching parity with Moscow and Beijing.
However, there are indications that Trump may not have meant testing of the nuclear warheads.
“I wouldn’t presume that the president’s words meant nuclear testing,” Vice Adm. Richard Correll, the nominee to lead the military’s top nuclear command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday at his confirmation hearing. “I believe the quote was ‘start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis.’ Neither China or Russia has conducted a nuclear explosive test. So I’m not reading anything into it or reading anything out.”
The debate over resuming nuclear testing has floated through Washington establishment circles since the end of the Cold War. But it picked up steam in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election when Trump’s former national security adviser Robert O’Brien made a public push for the Pentagon to resume tests.
The statements from Energy Secretary Chris Wright seem to underscore that Nevada is not about to experience another period of mushroom clouds and nuclear tourism.
On Sunday, Chris Wright, Mr. Trump’s energy secretary, appeared to contradict Mr. Trump when he indicated the United States has no intention of conducting new explosive tests, and would simply continue its regular testing of nuclear components and systems to ensure they are working properly.
“These will be nonnuclear explosions,” Mr. Wright said on “The Sunday Briefing” on Fox News. “These are just developing sophisticated systems so that our replacement nuclear weapons are even better than the ones they were before.”
A 1950s tourist poster promoting nuclear testing near Las Vegas.
In the 1950s, the Nevada Test Site not only conducted 100 atmospheric nuclear tests but also spawned a bizarre "atomic tourism" industry: hotels offered "nuclear explosion breakfast packages”. pic.twitter.com/wFT8RaF8KA— Scientia et Natura (@FOL_65) October 3, 2025
Interestingly, in a move to regain relevancy after their foray into Shutdown Theater proved an epic failure, Senate Democrats are throwing up roadblocks to confirming that our nation has working missiles.
…Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., introduced the No Nuclear Testing Without Approval Act Friday. The measure prohibits the U.S. from conducting a nuclear test unless a foreign state first conducts a nuclear test, and would require Congress to sign off on such nuclear tests.
“Restarting nuclear testing would be reckless and unnecessary,” Kelly said in a Friday statement. “We’ve already conducted more than a thousand tests and know our warheads work. This would just risk triggering a dangerous chain reaction, potentially encouraging countries like China to do the same and advance their own technology.”
This shows just how Anti-american Dems are…why not test our Nuclear capabilities to insure its readiness and 1st strike capabilities?
Democrats fight to block Trump’s ‘reckless and unnecessary’ call to restart nuclear testinghttps://t.co/7XMsvPTYLJ— Dr.Elder Max (@Patriot9_11) November 11, 2025
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Comments
It seems as though the dems in office are nothing more than petulant brats who will defy anything and everything Trump says …. because.
Maybe, before the next election, they’ll put up a candidate with an IQ of 50 or more and has an idea of how to run things. In the meantime maybe understand they lost the election and its time to stop pouting, like the petulant brats they are and start thinking about what’s good for the USA.
TDS is a wasteful ailment. Get over it.
There is absolutely NOTHING that Trump could do that would get support from Democrats. Nothing!
They wouldn’t acknowledge a kid with cancer at the SOU address because Trump introduced him. Truly, TDS is a terrible desease.
Waiting for the inevitable #Resistance Federal judge to rule the Chicoms, Norks or Iranians have a Constitutional right to develop their “mostly peaceful” nukes and obliterate US cities without interference from that blunder Trump. If that means US citizens are reduced to radioactive ash – we’ll, you can’t get True Communism (TM) without a genocide or two along the way.
“[M]arking the move to end the moratorium on such activities since they began in 1992.”
Raise your hand if you haven’t performed any service on your automobile in thirty-three years.
No one?
It’s the same principle, except with many zeros added onto the cost.
Translation: the NYT and other media outlets made up the story about resuming nuclear testing, and are now trying to cover up this fact by ginning up yet another fake news story about dissension in the Trump administration.
Nuclear weapons degrade with time. How “convenient” that Netflix is airing a new version of the nuclear holocaust story. If our older warheads “fizzle” no delivery system will help.
Tritium has a half life of 10 years so it needs to be replaced periodically I would think.
The plutonium sphere will develop “holes” from radiation decay and the surface may erode if air gets to it. The neutron bolster source will decay. The beryllium pit will become more inhomogeneous. It’s a rebuild more than refurb. Tritium decays as you note but easier to replace as the bomb allows different levels of boost depending on how much tritium is infused.
Interesting, My guess is that dealing with the bombs is more of an engineering problem than a theoretical one unless a new radical design was introduced that would really benefit from testing,
maga!
watch out for even more lefty sabotage to our nations defense
We test the delivery systems by launching missiles periodically. The land based system is old and needs to be replaced. Plans exist and work is being done. Russia has develop at least half a dozen new missiles since we deployed the Minuteman III.
I’ve read that the nuclear weapons themselves don;t need testing. Work is done by computer simulation, They would need refurbishment. I believe they use Tritium and that has a short half life of 10 years. I expect explosives used also need to be replaced and the electronics periodically tested.
My main concern is we;re still sticking land based missiles in a silo instead of making them mobile like our adversaries. That makes them very vulnerable to a variety of first strike scenarios especially as our foes develop quieter subs and position them closer to our shores,
Models can only tell us so much and they are subject to political or ideological bias. Do you really want the same people who point to models as proof the world is going to end from “climate change” in a few years (decades) to be responsible for promising our nukes will work as intended? Underground testing will tell us more than computer models because it’s based on real conditions, not theoretical conditions.
That is why the Trident is based also on subs which can do the same thing… land based are back ups.
The problem is building the new class of subs. The Ohio class has to be aging out soon since they’re shutting down the guided missile ones.
I’d still rather play a shell game with 400 land based missiles. (I’d prefer a 1000 because its a nice number and we have new ones added all the time),
And as China buys up land next to military installations in the US.
if the dems arent on the iranian payroll I would be surprised
I suspect Trump means nuclear weapons triggers, delivery systems with triggers, remote detonation, etc