nuclear-news

Rusting nuclear facilities hamper Trump’s plans for new tests

President insists new trials will begin, but officials say US not capable of doing so.

Benedict Smith, US Reporter

 The United States is not ready to restart nuclear weapons testing and
risks losing ground to China and Russia if it pushes ahead with Donald
Trump’s plans, experts believe.

The president announced this week that
the US would conduct tests of nuclear weapons for the first time in more
than three decades, breaking one of the few remaining taboos among the
superpowers.

Experts fear that in doing so, Mr Trump has fired the starting
gun on a race Washington is ill-prepared to win, and that it could find
itself matched or overtaken by Moscow and Beijing.

Visitors to America’s
vast testing site in the Nevada desert said it is filled with equipment
that is slowly rusting away, while former officials say it simply has not
had the investment to match the president’s ambitions. Now there are
fears that Mr Trump has opened a “Pandora’s Box” that has remained
shut almost since the end of the Cold War. And he might not be prepared for what comes next.

 Telegraph 3rd Nov 2025, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2025/11/03/trump-could-not-launch-nuclear-weapon-if-he-wanted/

November 7, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war