Nevadans Against Nuclear Weapons Testing

There have been no explosive nuclear weapons tests in Nevada since 1992, consistent with a U.S. moratorium on testing signed by President George H.W. Bush and voluntarily upheld by every president since. No country, other than North Korea, has conducted an explosive nuclear weapons test in this century.

However, the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025—promoted during the 2024 election season as a blueprint for a new U.S. administration—called for requiring “immediate test readiness” to “indicate a willingness to conduct nuclear tests.” Also in 2024, President Trump’s first-term National Security Advisor Robert C. O’Brien wrote an article in Foreign Affairs calling for the resumption of explosive underground nuclear weapons testing.

Concerned that this line of thinking could take hold in Washington and that a return to unnecessary and dangerous explosive nuclear testing would damage national and global security by triggering a return to testing in Russia, China, and other nuclear-armed states, NTI sought to build a bulwark against future explosive testing in Nevada, the only state equipped to conduct such tests due to its history as a nuclear weapons testing ground.

NTI conducted polling to assess the unpopularity of resumed testing in Nevada, a state where voter opinion is taken seriously by both political parties, and found an overwhelming 73% of Nevadans oppose resumed testing—but few were aware that it was even being considered.

In fall of 2024, NTI began a public education blitz involving news media, billboards, posters, and teams canvassing residents. NTI also began organizing Nevada business and tourism leaders, environmental and community groups, military veterans and Downwinders to form the Nevadans Against Nuclear Weapons Testing coalition.

In 2025, NTI worked with the coalition and state legislators to introduce a bipartisan resolution calling on the federal government to maintain a moratorium on testing. In May, after NTI testified in legislative hearings, the resolution passed unanimously. By the end of the campaign, NTI had achieved the following:

• Every state legislator in Nevada, regardless of party, is now on the record opposed to resumed testing, joining the governor who spoke out previously, and the resolution was formally transmitted to federal officials and Nevada’s Congressional delegation.
• A diverse array of civil society joined the state coalition, and powerful interests testified in open hearings against it, including the Resort Association (casinos), Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, and Reno + Sparks Chamber.
• Cultural allies like the Las Vegas-born rock band The Killers and actor and director Matthew Modine spoke up.
• The chair of Invisible Enemy, a Las Vegas-based organization that advocates on behalf of servicemembers harmed by work in the nuclear weapons complex, lobbied legislators and conducted radio interviews.
• Op-eds in all major state papers, including by former President H.W. Bush advisor Sig Rogich.

NTI helped build awareness that explosive nuclear weapons testing is not needed, not smart for U.S. security, and unpopular, including in the perennial swing state of Nevada.