U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has sought to calm concerns over President Donald Trump’s decision to restart nuclear weapons testing, insisting that the current phase involves no nuclear detonations.
Speaking on Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing,” Wright described the planned activities as “system tests” designed to assess the functionality of non-nuclear components in America’s arsenal. “These are not nuclear explosions,” he said. “These are what we call non-critical explosions.”
The clarification comes days after Trump ordered the resumption of testing, ending a 33-year hiatus since the last underground nuclear blast. The announcement, made ahead of Trump’s scheduled meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea, was widely viewed as a message to Beijing and Moscow.
Wright emphasised that modern computing allows scientists to model nuclear detonations with extraordinary precision, eliminating the need for full-scale explosive tests.
“With our science and our computation power, we can simulate incredibly accurately exactly what will happen in a nuclear explosion,” he said. “Now we simulate what were the conditions that delivered that, and as we change bomb designs, what will they deliver?”
He added that the new system tests would help ensure that replacement nuclear weapons exceed the reliability of older designs, bolstering the country’s deterrence capabilities.
Despite the reassurances, the Energy Secretary’s remarks are unlikely to silence international concern. Non-proliferation advocates fear that even limited testing could erode decades of global restraint and open the door to a new arms race.
Still, Wright maintained that the United States remains committed to “responsible modernization” of its nuclear stockpile. “We’re testing for safety, reliability and readiness, not escalation,” he said.
