US not averse to conducting underground nuclear tests if necessary: Report

MUMBAI: The Biden administration has not completely ruled out the possibility of conducting underground nuclear tests if circumstances demand so.
This has been made amply clear in the US Department of Energy (DoE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) report to the US Congress this month.
The report, which delves into the details about various aspects of the current status of America’s nuclear weapons programme, says: “The US must be ready to perform underground nuclear explosive tests using a test article.”
While pointing out that there were no immediate plans to conduct a test, the report states that “DoE/NNSA assumes that a test would be conducted only when the President has declared a national emergency or other similar contingency and only after any necessary waiver of applicable statutory and regulatory restrictions”.
The report states that some of the capabilities and technologies used during testing continue to be updated or replaced. “The test readiness strategy is to reconstitute underground nuclear explosive testing elements if or when needed rather than maintain obsolete facilities and capabilities.”
The Nevada National Security Site, where the tests will be conducted, is hiring more people to meet increasing mission needs.
Keeping in view that an underground nuclear test can be conducted if necessary, the report states that the “DoE/NNSA continues to leverage subcritical experiments for test readiness as such experiments are challenging, multidisciplinary efforts that enhance the technical competency of the nuclear security enterprise workforce”.
Against this background, it has emphasised that the “international security environment has deteriorated in recent years in large part due to the actions of US strategic competitors and their heavy investment in new nuclear capabilities”.
According to the report, China has embarked on an ambitious expansion, modernisation and diversification of its nuclear forces and has established a nascent nuclear triad.
It says that Russia continues to emphasise nuclear weapons in its strategy, modernise and expand its nuclear forces and brandish nuclear weapons in support of its revisionist security policy.
The report says that at the outset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation unit has been heavily involved in the crises, providing technical advice to US government decision makers and Ukraine partners.