In 2012, U.S. nuclear weapons scientists conducted two 'Z Machine' tests on plutonium between April and August and plan an autumn-time underground explosion of a plutonium-filled mockup warhead!
Explosive nuclear experiments on plutonium the norm 20 years after U.S.'s last nuclear test
1. 20 years after its last nuclear
explosion…
…the U.S. conducted two ‘nuclear tests’
in 2012, and another is on the way
NuclearCrimes.org September 2012
2. U.S. Nuclear Testing History
• U.S. conducted world’s first nuclear test in New
Mexico in July 1945 - its last nuclear explosion
was in 1992
• 2012 was to be the ’20th anniversary of the U.S.’s
last nuclear test’
• But since 1997, U.S. weapons scientists have been
conducting subcritical experiments
• These experiments subject plutonium fuel to a
‘nuclear explosive’ environment. Although
there’s no sustained ‘chain reaction,’ some
consider these ‘nuclear tests.’
3. Z-Machine tests on plutonium
• In September 2012,
Hiroshima peace
organizations found out
U.S. conducted 2
subcritical ‘Z Machine’
tests earlier in year
• The ‘Z Machine’
mimics conditions of a
nuclear explosion
• U.S. didn’t pre-
announce experiments;
‘mentioned’ one of
them via a chart
4. Hiroshima groups
outraged
about Z-Machine tests -
calling them ‘nuclear
tests’
• Hiroshima peace groups
immediately condemned ‘Z
Machine’ plutonium
experiments
• Hiroshima museum curator,
who says these experiments are
‘nuclear tests,’ reset ‘Peace
Clock’
5. Hiroshima Mayor Writes
Letters of Protest
• ‘Though the test did not
involve a nuclear
explosion, [this] series
of such experiments …
can be understood as
evidence that the U.S.
intends to cling to its
nuclear stockpile …
[and] has aroused
suspicion regarding
your intentions…’
6. Anger at more than just ‘Z
Machine’ tests
• U.S. Z-Machine ‘shots’
and underground
‘subcritical nuclear
experiments’ are
considered ‘nuclear
tests’ by Hiroshima
groups
• ‘Subcritical nuclear
experiments’ are
conducted underground
in Nevada
7. Subcritical tests soon to involve warheads
• Normal U.S. underground subcritical
tests bombard bits of plutonium with
chemical explosives
• In 2011, it was learned U.S. had plans
to carry out a ‘first-of-a-kind’
subcritical test
• It would be an underground explosion
of a plutonium-filled mock-up warhead
called a ‘scaled subcritical experiment’
8. ‘Scaled’ subcritical test planned for
end of 2012
• Experiment called
‘Pollux’ will occur
sometime in the fall
of 2012
• With Pollux, the U.S.
will have carried out
three ‘nuclear tests’
in 2012
9. Are these experiments really ‘nuclear
tests’?
• Each ‘stockpile’ experiment on plutonium results in a
‘nuclear energy release.’ In the 1990s, even President
Clinton’s administration wasn’t clear if this was
equated with the definition of a ‘nuclear explosion.’
• The definition of ‘nuclear explosion’ is blurry even to
the backers of the CTBT
• Guess what else…? FOIA documents indicate these
‘stockpile’ experiment methods could be exploited to
make new nuclear weapons by the U.S…. or by
‘wannabe’ nuclear weapons states!
10. 20 years after its last nuclear test, the
U.S. is planning ‘stockpile stewardship’
experiments that are increasingly
resembling nuclear tests.
If we want to curb proliferation, we need
to put language back into the CTBT (that
was removed in the 1990s) that would ban
nuclear tests of every definition!
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