A federal agency confirmed that it carried out a “subcritical experiment” at the U.S. nuclear testing site in Nevada to provide information on the “materials used in nuclear warheads,” prompting reactions from North Korea and Russia.
The test was carried out at the Nevada National Security Site last week and did not trigger a fissile chain reaction, said the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
“This experiment performed as predicted; consistent with the self-imposed moratorium on nuclear explosive testing that the United States has held since 1992, it did not form a self-sustaining, supercritical chain reaction,” the agency said in a news release.
The agency said that it will increase the number of similar tests to gather data on nuclear weapons materials without resorting to using explosions. The last known U.S. nuclear explosion test was carried out in 1992, and Washington has since partook in a self-imposed moratorium on such testing.
“The success of this subcritical experiment was made possible by collaboration across our enterprise, and our investments in science and technology,” Marvin Adams, an administrator for Nuclear Security Administration defense programs, said in the release.
Such “subcritical experiments” are needed to “collect valuable information to support the safety, security, reliability, and effectiveness of America’s nuclear warheads,” according to the release. That data will be used to “improve our modeling and simulation capability,” it added.
Late last year, the NNSA carried out an explosion at the Nevada National Security Site, which was designed to improve how the United States can detect low-yield nuclear blasts in the future.
“These experiments advance our efforts to develop new technology in support of U.S. nuclear nonproliferation goals,” Corey Hinderstein, an agency deputy administrator, said in the release issued at the time. “They will help reduce global nuclear threats by improving the detection of underground nuclear explosive tests.”
Reactions
On Monday, North Korea claimed that the United States engaged in a “dangerous act” with last week’s test in Nevada.“The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will not allow a strategic imbalance and security vacuum to be created on the Korean peninsula,” North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement Monday, according to state-run media.
North Korea has conducted at least six nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017, while it has frequently test-launched missiles into the Pacific Ocean. The isolated, communist country has warned that it would carry out a seventh one.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that based on the United States’ description of the test, the Kremlin doesn’t believe any nuclear treaties were violated. “And, accordingly, does not constitute a violation of the provisions of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty or the U.S. moratorium on nuclear tests,” she said.
Russia last year de-ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The United States signed but never ratified the treaty.
Russia and the United States are by far the world’s biggest nuclear powers, holding about 88 percent of the world’s total inventory of nuclear weapons, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it would carry out tactical nuclear drills near Ukraine, while Moscow has again accused the West and NATO of taking “provocative” measures.
Russian troops “are practicing combat training tasks of obtaining special ammunition for the Iskander operational-tactical missile system, equipping launch vehicles with them and covertly advancing to the designated position area in preparation for missile launches,” the ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
Troops will be involved in “ equipping aviation weapons with special warheads, including the Kinzhal aeroballistic hypersonic missiles, and flying into designated patrol area,” it added.
