Expanding openness about NNSA’s activities at the Nevada National Security Site

Last fall, NNSA welcomed 13 non-governmental experts on arms control and nonproliferation to its Nevada facilities, including parts of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) outside Las Vegas, as part of our broader efforts to demonstrate transparency about our work. The tour offered a first-hand look at nonproliferation projects, in large part focused on the ability to detect low-yield nuclear explosions around the world, and the Stockpile Stewardship Program, which the United States started in 1992 when it ended nuclear explosive testing.

NNSA demonstrates transparency during arms control and nonproliferation experts’ visit to Nevada

NNSA’s Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Corey Hinderstein said: “We have transformed the former Nevada Test Site. No longer a venue for nuclear explosive testing, it has been reborn as a home for world-class experimentation and training, and a pillar of our nonproliferation activities.” NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs Marvin Adams added: “This is an important time for stockpile stewardship at NNSS. Ongoing enhancements to the monitoring instruments for our subcritical experiments help us better understand the behavior of plutonium under various conditions and help us continue the U.S. nuclear explosive testing moratorium.”

Check out the key takeaways from a few of the participants ??

In an episode of the Arms Control Wonk podcast, Dr. Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies stressed that “transparency is so important,” noting that he and the other visitors got to go directly to the spaces where subcritical experiments and nonproliferation projects are conducted:

• Jeffrey Visits the Test Site

For Arms Control Association , Daryl Kimball wrote: “I saw ample signs that although the dangerous era of U.S. nuclear weapons testing has ended, the site and the NNSA still have critical roles to play to ensure that nuclear explosive testing is not resumed by the United States or other countries.”

• SPECIAL REPORT: A Former Nuclear Test Site’s New Role

For Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists , Julien de Troullioud de Lanversin and Christopher Fichtlscherer make the case for even more transparency efforts and new verification methods:

• New confidence-building measures can reduce tensions around subcritical tests

Jamie Kwong wrote for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that the transparency visit comes in the context of Russian and Chinese activities at their nuclear test sites:

• Major Powers Stopped Nuclear Tests in 1998. That Norm Is Now Under Threat.

For the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation , John Erath said: “I was fortunate recently to tour the Nevada National Security Site, courtesy of the NNSA, and had the opportunity to understand better how the U.S. nuclear weapons enterprise is oriented away from nuclear testing in favor of other avenues for promoting safety and security of nuclear weapons.”:

• No Good Reason for Nuclear Testing, Part 2

And Open Nuclear Network offered appreciation for the opportunity:

• Jaewoo Shin Taking Part in the NNSA Organized Arms Control and Nonproliferation Experts’ Visit to Nevada

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