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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs the world back to testing nuclear weapons? Here are the facts
Good report from CBC.
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The testing of nuclear weapons is suddenly a major topic of discussion after being largely dormant for three decades. Last week, Russia tested a nuclear-powered missile, but did not detonate an actual bomb. In response, President Donald Trump said this week the U.S. will resume testing nuclear weapons.
So far in the 21st century, the only country to have conducted nuclear weapons tests is North Korea, and those tests have all been underground. The U.S. last tested a nuclear bomb in 1992. Russias last test was in 1990. China stopped in 1996.
The most spectacular nuclear tests were those conducted in the open air in the late 1940s and 1950s, producing some of the most iconic and horrifying images of the nuclear age. The mushroom cloud has been a symbol of the threat ever since.
The devastating effects of those tests are still being felt. The U.S. tests on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific were some of the biggest ever. To this day, contamination from radioactive fallout makes it unsafe for anyone to live there permanently.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/nuclear-testing-proliferation-putin-trump-9.6962088
Walleye
(44,797 posts)He wont be happy until he has made this place uninhabitable
hunter
(40,688 posts)He was one of the soldiers used as guinea pigs. The military wanted to know what conditions would be like on a nuclear battlefield and had soldiers marching around in the desert immediately after the blast with the mushroom cloud rising above them. There are videos on YouTube.
Everyone was sworn to secrecy. Even after the Clinton administration made it legal to talk about these tests my father-in-law kept quiet until my wife's mom saw a letter from the VA informing him that he might be entitled to some Atomic Veteran benefits.
Fortunately my father-in-law suffered no apparent damage to his health but many other participants in the tests were not so lucky.
Trump thinks nuclear tests would make him look powerful. It actually makes him look like a dangerous idiot. The guy is a temper tantrum throwing toddler with a gun he found in mom's purse.
John Farmer
(404 posts)I was warned to not eat the snow.