US moves closer to underground testing of nuclear weapons stockpile without any actual explosions
Scientists charged with making sure the United States' aging stockpile of nuclear weapons are good to go, if needed, say they’ll start shipping key components to the Nevada desert next year
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Scientists charged with ensuring the aging U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons are good to go — if needed — say they'll start shipping key components to Nevada's desert next year to prepare for underground testing they call “tickling the dragon's tail.”
Experts at national defense laboratories haven't been able to physically validate the effectiveness and reliability of nuclear warheads since a 1992 underground test ban. But Energy Department officials announced Thursday they're on the verge of piecing together the technology needed to do the next best thing.
As early as 2027, the $1.8 billion Scorpius project will make it possible to move beyond theoretical computer modeling to study in much more detail the conditions found inside the final stages of a nuclear weapon implosion but without the nuclear explosion, said Jon Custer, the Sandia project lead in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Scientists call it “tickling the dragon’s tail," Custer said, because the experiment approaches but stays below the stage at which the fission of nuclear materials sustains an ongoing series of chain reactions.
