fp.

Ironically enough the National Nuclear Safety Administration staff were furloughed this month. You might recall that hundreds of them were mistakenly fired by the expert minds at DOGE back in February.

Cheap laughs aside, we already test nuclear triggers at the National Ignition Facility. I'm pretty sure what Trump is demanding here is a return to atmospheric testing because he wants the thrill of seeing a giant explosion detonated on his orders. I doubt he'll be satisfied with an education tour of the NIF or even underground testing. He grew up seeing atmospheric tests and he's famous for being invested int he power of visual imagery as a means of communication.

CamperBob2•1h ago

Trump will probably order one to be lit off in the desert outside Vegas every Fourth of July, and charge admission based on how close to ground zero the viewer wants to get.

The crazy thing is, I'm not sure that's such a bad idea. People are going to forget what these things do. Before long, we'll start to see people denying they ever existed, or that they work at all. That needs to not happen.

aerostable_slug•8m ago

Trump stated "equal basis" — no one is conducting atmospheric tests anymore.

ImPrajyoth•1h ago

Isn't he the same person who wanted a Nobel peace prize few days ago?

aerostable_slug•9m ago

Imminent meeting with Xi; seems like a good bargaining chip.

Seems clear he's calling out cheating on zero yield test thresholds with the "equal basis" language (Russia was reportedly guilty of this in 2019 IIRC). It will be interesting to see where this goes.