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US nuclear physicist warned: Tests benefit Russia the most
Siegfried Hecker, honorary director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, said in an article in Foreign Affairs that the US restarting nuclear tests would benefit Russia and China more than Washington. According to Hecker, this step could trigger a new arms race by increasing Russia's trust in next-generation weapons such as Poseidon.
Siegfried Hecker, a nuclear physicist and honorary director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, said the US restarting nuclear tests would benefit its competitors more than Washington.
In the article he wrote for Foreign Affairs magazine, Hecker stated that the counter-steps that Russia and China will take will start a new arms race and that America will experience the greatest loss in this race.
Los Alamos, located in the state of New Mexico, is home to one of the two US laboratories that carry out secret studies on nuclear weapons. The facility was built in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, where the first nuclear bombs were developed.
'It provides more benefits to competitors'
Hecker made the following assessment in his article:
“About 33 years after America's last nuclear test, it's becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the security, effectiveness and reliability of the aging nuclear arsenal. However, starting trials again right now will probably benefit the enemies of the USA more than the US. Even worse, this could trigger a bigger arms race than in the first decades of the Cold War.”
'Russia's confidence in new weapons may increase'
In this context, Hecker drew attention to Russia's next-generation weapons, the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon super torpedo.
“Full-scale nuclear tests (to be carried out in the US) will probably reinforce Russia's confidence in these systems,” Hecker wrote.
According to the latest data, the US has about 3,700 nuclear weapons in its inventory, of which is thought to be ready for use.
After the nuclear tests were stopped, Hecker explained that scientists at Los Alamos and other laboratories had successfully maintained the war-readiness and security of nuclear warheads through extensive simulation programs, scientific research, and non-nuclear tests.
However, Hecker emphasized that America's resumption of trials will undermine the global nuclear weapons prevention system.
'Trump should focus on gun control'
According to Hecker, US President Donald Trump should focus on returning to arms control measures to achieve strategic stability with Russia and China, rather than proposing an immediate restart of nuclear tests.
The scientist continued his words as follows:
“It is hoped that these measures will lead to a decrease in the nuclear power of the US and Russia and weaken China's incentives to grow its arsenal. On the other hand, Trump should make the way for the enapprovation of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) by maximizing the barriers to all countries from conducting the tests as possible.
Hecker stated that political will must be shown to solve the problem of tests that can be carried out secretly with low-power heads or hydronuclear experiments with about 1 ton of TNT equivalent and less energy emissions.
“The President and his counterparts in Moscow and Beijing will need to agree on a verifiable limitation of low power (for testing the titles),” Hecker said. This will almost certainly require on-site inspections, the possibility of which was proven in 1988," he concluded.
At the end of last month, Donald Trump announced that he had instructed the American military to start nuclear weapons tests "immediately" on an "equal basis" with other countries.
Trump did not specify whether this instruction covered nuclear explosions for testing purposes or control of launch systems.
After that, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced that these tests would not include nuclear explosions.