Nevada officials oppose new nuke tests

WASHINGTON — A high-stakes game of global saber rattling has prompted warnings from China and legislation filed by Democrats in the House and Senate to prohibit the Trump administration from resuming nuclear tests in Nevada ahead of an expiring arms reduction treaty.

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., have filed companion bills in the House and Senate to prevent nuclear testing at the Nevada National Security Site north of Las Vegas.

The bills were filed after a report in The Washington Post cited a senior Trump administration official and former officials who said a discussion of resumption of tests occurred.

The discussions were largely seen as an attempt to leverage Russia to agree to more restrictive measures when the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expires next year.

It also prompted a response from China last week that warned the Trump administration against U.S. testing, calling it a step toward global insecurity.

Some Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have viewed past arms reduction treaties as an obstacle to upgrading the country’s nuclear arsenal and military capabilities.

The recent revelation about renewed talks has prompted Democratic lawmakers to file legislation to prohibit U.S. nuclear weapons testing.

The last underground test occurred in 1992 at the Nevada National Security Site, a facility larger than the state of Rhode Island and located 65 miles north of Las Vegas. In the 1950s, patrons of Atomic Liquors — which bills itself as Las Vegas’ oldest free-standing bar — watched atmospheric atomic explosions from the bar’s roof.

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Titus, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the report of discussions within the administration spurred her to file her bill, noting that when reports of talks on resuming testing begin, “you don’t want to mess around.”

She is asking committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., to hold a hearing when Congress returns.

“I think it is saber rattling,” Titus said of the discussions. “I don’t think there’s really any appetite from a majority of people to resume this.”

Still, she is seeking answers from the Trump administration on its plans.

Rep. Steven Horsford, whose congressional district includes the security site, co-sponsored the Titus bill, citing safety concerns and the lack of need to resume testing.

Horsford said the administration “has repeatedly advocated for policies that would compromise the safety of Nevadans, and this recent discussion of resuming nuclear testing in our state is yet another example of such disrespect.”

The secretaries of the Defense and Energy departments, by law, must certify every year that the weapons stockpile is effective and secure. The stockpile is overseen by the National Nuclear Security Administration, which is under the Energy Department.

“NNSA continues to observe the 1992 nuclear test moratorium,” said Ana Gamonal de Navarro, an administration spokeswoman.

“Since then, the United States has certified the deployed nuclear stockpile annually without nuclear explosive testing, leveraging advances in experimental science, modeling, and simulation applied to nuclear weapons under Science-Based Stockpile Stewardship, and has found no issues that require us to resume underground testing,” she said.

A presidential policy directive in 1993, however, requires NNSA to maintain readiness to conduct an underground nuclear test within 24 to 36 months, if required, to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the nuclear stockpile, Navarro said.

Briefing sought

Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., chairman of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on nonproliferation, and Titus, who is a member of the subcommittee, sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo seeking a briefing on Trump administration discussions about new tests.

“Resuming nuclear testing could lead the United States into an expensive, destabilizing, and dangerous nuclear arms race,” Bera said.

Titus, author of a 1986 book on atomic testing and American politics, “Bombs in the Backyard,” detailed the fallout of nuclear blasts in Nevada and the harmful effects of radiation, even following underground testing.

The security site continues to conduct “subcritical” testing under the Stockpile Stewardship program to measure the effectiveness of the materials. If there is a resumption of nuclear testing, it would occur there because it is the only U.S. facility equipped to conduct the tests, Titus said.

In the Senate, the bill filed by Markey, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, would also prohibit a resumption of testing.

Nevada Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, both Democrats, are asking the Trump administration to provide information about published reports about discussions on testing.

Cortez Masto opposes unnecessary resumption of explosive nuclear testing.

“The national laboratories have seen no technical reason to resume explosive testing, and the senator has heard from leading policy experts who reaffirm that the resumption of testing is not necessary,” said Ryan King, a Cortez Masto spokesman.

House Democrats in a letter to administration officials said the notion that resuming testing would pressure Russia or China into arms control negotiations is baseless and uniformed.

The Trump administration has not publicly announced its intention to resume testing, but reports of discussions come after reports that China has conducted nuclear tests and allegations that Russia has violated the treaty, charges both governments have dismissed.

The Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday that U.S. testing would be a step down the wrong path that would undermine global strategic stability.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin @reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.