Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that it would not be among the weapons tests President Trump ordered last week. Nuclear explosion.
“I think the tests we’re talking about right now are systems tests. These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call non-critical explosions,” Wright said on Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing.”
Wright, whose agency oversees testing, continued, “So you’re testing all the other parts of the nuclear weapon to make sure that they provide the proper geometry, and that they produce a nuclear explosion.”
trump last week Said on social media that he directed the Defense Department Beginning US nuclear weapons testing “on an equal basis”, confusion arose about the nature of weapons tests.
Asked For clarification by journalists Later that day, Trump did not clarify whether he was asking the US to resume testing explosive nuclear weapons or ordering new testing of weapons systems capable of delivering nuclear weapons, which is more routine.
North Korea is the only country that has conducted nuclear tests since the 1990s. Russia is testing nuclear-capable weapons, which does not involve installing an actual nuclear bomb. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been testing missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons as recently as this week.
Wright on Sunday dismissed questions about whether the testing is “something where people living in the Nevada desert should expect to see mushroom clouds at some point.”
“No, no worries about it,” he replied. “No worries about it.”
As the US works to modernize its nuclear stockpile, Wright said officials will test new systems, not the existing stockpile.
“The testing we’re doing is on new systems. And again, these will be non-nuclear detonators. These are just developing these sophisticated systems so that our replacement nuclear weapons are even better than before. They are reliable in all circumstances, and they perform exactly what they were designed for,” he said.
