Jeff Brumfield
Appearances
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-29-2025 8PM EST
In Nevada, nearly 1,000 feet underground is a network of tunnels where American scientists studied nuclear weapons. David Funk is one of them. He says these shafts were dug for underground nuclear testing.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-29-2025 8PM EST
Subcritical experiments test the plutonium in nuclear bombs without setting them off. It's the way America has done it for more than 30 years, but some fear that could soon change. China and Russia may be preparing to test their weapons. And several people close to the Trump administration have also said that the U.S. should be ready to test again. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News.
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Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
Yeah, I went out to the Nevada National Security Site. It used to be the Nevada test site where America tested its nuclear warheads. That hasn't happened since the 1990s, but scientists are still studying nuclear weapons down there in a top-secret lab that's deep underground. To get there, you have to step into this mining elevator. And it drops you nearly a thousand feet below the desert.
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Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
At the bottom is a network of tunnels that's been carved out of an ancient lake bed. David Funk is overseeing upgrades to the labs, and he told me these tunnels were originally dug for underground nuclear detonations.
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Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
Well, subcritical experiments are experiments that use nuclear weapons material like plutonium, but they don't trigger a runaway nuclear chain reaction. That's the reaction that gives bombs their incredible power. The data from these experiments is fed into supercomputers that calculate how nuclear weapons are doing. Basically, they're simulating blowing up nukes inside these supercomputers.
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Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
Now, in the tunnels, I spoke to Don Haynes, a nuclear weapons scientist from Los Alamos National Lab. He says this whole system works.
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Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
But of course, Haynes is just a scientist. It's the politicians and generals who are going to decide whether the U.S. conducts another test.
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Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
So during the first Trump administration, there was some discussion of testing. And over the summer, his former national security advisor wrote that the U.S. should conduct a full nuclear test under Trump 2.0. And then there's Project 2025, a conservative agenda whose authors have close ties to Trump. It also says the president should have the option to do a test if he needs to.
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Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
Well, Jeff, why would he need to? Well, as we just heard, the scientists don't need to test, but there may be political reasons. You know, other countries might threaten the U.S. with nuclear weapons or the president might need to display his resolve. And one way to do that would be to conduct a test. So what would be the consequences of a return to testing?
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Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
Arms control experts say this would be a huge mistake for America. And the reason is kind of interesting. Here's Jamie Kwong with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
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Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
And that's because the U.S. has done well over a thousand nuclear tests, while China has only done 45. So China will gain a lot more knowledge from test 46 than the U.S. will from its next test.