Why the World Must Reject New Nuclear Tests

Jasmine Owens is an outreach and advocacy specialist for NTI.

The world has not been this close to the brink of nuclear catastrophe since the Cold War. United Nations (UN) leaders are warning that the global nuclear nonproliferation regime is under serious threat. And yet, some former government officials are pouring fuel on the fire by proposing that the United States resume explosive nuclear weapons testing.

It is exactly the wrong response to today’s escalating nuclear threats.

The ugly history of nuclear weapons testing, in the United States, the former Soviet Union, and elsewhere, prompted the UN in 1996 to adopt an international treaty known as the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) to ban explosive nuclear weapons tests. Thirteen years later, the UN unanimously designated August 29 as the International Day Against Nuclear Tests.

Why August 29?

The Republic of Kazakhstan was the driving force behind the effort, introducing the resolution to the General Assembly and rallying support for its passage. Nuclear testing is a particularly resonant issue in Kazakhstan, because it is home to the Semipalatinsk Test Site, which served as the Soviet Union’s primary nuclear test site during the Cold War. Kazakhstan chose August 29 as the commemoration date because it was the day the Soviet Union conducted its first-ever nuclear test in 1949 and the day the site was closed for good in 1991 after nearly 500 above- and below-ground explosive nuclear tests which resulted in serious harm to as many as 1.5 million people.

Just five years later, the CTBT was negotiated to ban all forms of explosive nuclear tests. Signed by states, it has yet to enter into force. The United States is among the handful of states that have signed but not yet ratified the treaty. Regardless, a moratorium on testing holds, and the treaty still acts as a vital tool for helping to prevent the further spread of nuclear weapons. In fact, the CTBT has been so effective at maintaining a taboo against nuclear testing that fewer than a dozen explosive nuclear tests have been conducted since the treaty opened for signature almost 30 years ago.

Any suggestion now that the United States should resume explosive nuclear testing is irresponsible and unnecessary.  In today’s world, the Department of Energy’s Stockpile Stewardship Program ensures the safety, reliability, and effectiveness of our nuclear weapons without explosive testing, including through advanced simulations via supercomputers that provide more information about the U.S. stockpile than when explosive tests were regularly occurring. So, it is crucial that the moratorium continue to hold —both to protect the health and safety of those who work and live at and around nuclear test sites and because it is in the security interests of the United States not to prompt other countries to follow suit, which they surely would do.

On the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, it is important to remember that what the commemoration day and the CTBT have accomplished is monumental. It is rare that 187 countries come together to help build a safer world for us all. That is no small feat.

This year, here in the United States and in elections around the world, nukes are on the ballot. That means a safer future is in our hands. This August 29th let’s add our voices to the global choir calling for a safer world by sharing our opposition to any resumption of nuclear testing by any country and our commitment to building a world without nuclear weapons.