Trump's testing plans for US nuclear weapons won't include explosions, energy secretary says

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 4:22 PM EST, November 2, 2025


WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — New tests of the U.S. nuclear weapons system ordered up by President Donald Trump will not include nuclear explosions, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday. It was the first clarity from the Trump administration since the president took to social media last week to say he had “instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.”

“I think the tests we’re talking about right now are system tests,” Wright said in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Briefing.” “These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call noncritical explosions.”

Wright, whose agency is responsible for testing, added that the planned testing involves “all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry and they set up the nuclear explosion.”

The confusion over Trump’s intention started minutes before he held a critical meeting in South Korea with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump took to his Truth Social platform and appeared to suggest he was preparing to discard a decades-old U.S. prohibition on testing the nation’s nuclear weapons.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-nuclear-weapons-testing-explosions-wright-energy-a920fc10aff85243cb6895fad55b2839

[calimary]

1. And we're supposed to believe these bastards?

Their leader is the guy who lies all the time. And all they seem interested in doing is placating him and pretending there’s nothing wrong with that (OR with him)!

[twodogsbarking]

8. I'm guessing you don't believe the bastards either.

[littlemissmartypants]

2. That guarantees explosions will be included.

[rampartd]

3. until they do

i have no problem with testing the gear. bit as soon as krasnov wants fireworks on caraccas who knows?

does anyone think maybe krasnov is clearing out competitors to his own fentanyl operation?

and why are not the russian gangsters on some kind of terror list?

[truthisfreedom]

4. Just like they didn't demolish the east wing!

Just trust them! And deal with it!

[BadgerKid]

5. I'd assumed non critical testing has been ongoing

For example, by performing calculations and doing computer simulations.

[Ray Bruns]

7. It has. Those kind of tests are always being conducted.

[Ray Bruns]

6. The department of defense already conducts those tests. Another "non-issue" fixed by doing what we are already doing.

[E. Normus]

9. I guess it wouldn't be too hard

to mistake nuclear explosions from those coming from Trump's Depends! Which fallout would be worse?

[William Seger]

10. Nuclear explosions are triggered by a conventional explosive

If you test the system down to that point and accurately measure the conventional explosive power, you could have confidence that the nuclear explosion would have happened. We know enough about creating a nuclear reaction that there is never a need to test to that level.