Nuclear weapons testing sites in US, China and Russia have all been newly expanded – as expert says it ‘hints’ the countries could resume detonations

The United States, China and Russia have all recently expanded their underground nuclear testing sites, a development that worries nonproliferation experts who fear a new global arms race.

Satellite images shared with DailyMail.com on Friday show extensive construction in recent years at the Nevada national security site near US Area 51, at China’s Lop Nur test site and on the ground Russian atomic test facility at Novaya Zemlya.

Although there is no evidence that a nuclear test is imminent at any of the three sites, experts fear that the three powers are moving closer to resuming underground nuclear testing for the first time since 1996.

“There are many indications that Russia, China and the United States may resume nuclear testing,” said Jeffrey Lewis, assistant professor at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Institute for International Studies. from Middlebury. said CNNwho was the first to report the images.

“It is very clear that the three countries, Russia, China and the United States, have invested a lot of time, effort and money not only in modernizing their nuclear arsenals, but also in preparing the types of activities that would be necessary for a nuclear test,’ he added.

Lewis analyzed satellite images showing recent construction at the three test sites and provided them directly to CNN and DailyMail.com.

The resumption of underground nuclear testing by the world’s three largest nuclear powers would constitute a significant break with a de facto moratorium that has lasted for nearly three decades.

The last Russian nuclear test took place in 1990, under the regime of the former Soviet Union. The last American test took place in 1992 and China’s in 1996.

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1996 effectively ended underground testing in all three countries.

The United States and China both signed the treaty, but never ratified it, while Russia has ratified it.

Since then, only 10 nuclear weapons tests have been carried out worldwide: two by India and Pakistan in 1998, and six by North Korea from 2006 to 2017.

According to Lewis, accelerating construction work at test sites in the United States, China and Russia is a harbinger of a new nuclear arms race.

“The threat of nuclear testing lies in the extent to which they accelerate the growing arms race between the United States on the one hand, and Russia and China on the other,” Lewis told CNN.

“The consequences of this are that we spend huge amounts of money, even though we cannot improve our security.”

Although Russia ratified the 1996 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Russian leader Vladimir Putin claimed in February, without any evidence, that the United States was preparing to resume nuclear testing and promised that Moscow would respond the same way.

“If the United States does testing, then we will. No one should have dangerous illusions about the possibility of destroying global strategic parity,” Putin said.

William Courtney, an associate research fellow at the RAND Corporation and former US nuclear negotiator with the USSR, called Putin’s remarks “threatening.”

“A long-standing tactic of the Kremlin is to accuse others of doing what it plans to do,” he wrote in a statement. comment. “A frustrated Putin might view nuclear testing as the next step on the escalation ladder.”

In August, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made an official visit to Novaya Zemlya, increasing the visibility of the nuclear test site and reinforcing fears about Moscow’s plans to resume atomic testing.

Satellite images of Russia’s Novaya Zemlya test site show significant construction activity over the past two years.

Shipping containers, large trucks and several new buildings under construction are visible in the June images.

Novaya Zemlya is located on a remote archipelago in Russia’s far north, with tunnels dug deep into the mountains for underground testing.

It was first used by the USSR to conduct nuclear tests in 1955 and was the site of hundreds of nuclear detonations until the final test in 1990.

Meanwhile, increased activity was also detected at China’s Lop Nur testing site, located in western China’s Xinjiang province.

The nuclear testing base, located beneath barren mountains surrounding a dry lake bed, was established in 1959.

China conducted its first nuclear test there in 1964 and carried out a total of 47 aerial and underground tests until the last one in 1996.

Satellite images show the excavation of a new fifth underground tunnel at the site in recent years, as well as the construction of new roads.

Lewis told CNN that a comparison of images taken in 2022 and 2023 shows that a pile of debris at the site has grown, indicating the expansion of underground tunnels.

New construction also took place in the main administration and support area, and a new storage area was built in 2021 and 2022.

In the United States, the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) was established in 1951 to test nuclear weapons and has been the site of at least 100 atmospheric tests and 828 underground detonations.

The NNSS is part of the massive government-controlled Nevada Shooting and Training Range and is not far from the highly classified Air Force facility at Groom Lake, better known as Area 51 .

Commercial satellite images shared by Lewis show that an underground facility at the site, known as the U1a complex, was significantly expanded between 2018 and 2023.

The NNSS website states that the U1a complex is a laboratory “where scientists conduct subcritical and physical experiments to obtain technical information about the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.”

“U1a is the only place in the country where subcritical experiments using plutonium in weapons-relevant quantities can be conducted,” the website adds.

Subcritical testing involves the detonation of chemical explosives to apply high pressure to the nuclear materials, to ensure that they still function properly, without creating a self-sustaining nuclear reaction.

An NNSS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.

The National Security Administration (NNSA), a branch of the US Department of Energy that oversees the site, told CNN it was “recapitalizing the infrastructure and scientific capabilities” of the Nevada test site.

“(This) will provide modern diagnostic capabilities and data to help maintain the safety and performance of the U.S. nuclear stockpile without further testing of underground nuclear explosives,” the agency said.