Top US official does not rule out resuming underground nuclear weapons tests

A senior State Department official on Tuesday said the U.S. still is assessing how to implement President Donald Trump's order to resume U.S. nuclear weapons tests, but he did not rule out a resumption of full-scale underground explosive tests.



"We've made no decision specifically on how or what any testing program would look like," Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Thomas DiNanno testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.



Arms control advocates warn that a U.S. resumption of underground explosive tests could collapse the global non-proliferation system because Russia, China and other countries would follow suit. The last such U.S. test took place in 1992.