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Activity at the nuclear test sites of Russia, China and the US is increasing amid tensions between the three. Photo/Illustration
WASHINGTON – Satellite imagery shows increased activity seen at nuclear test sites belonging to three world powers; Russia, China and the United States (US). It comes amid tensions between them that have reached their highest point in the past decade.
While there is no evidence to suggest that Russia, the US, or China are preparing nuclear tests in the near future, the images show a recent expansion of the three nuclear test sites compared to just a few years ago.
Reporting from CNN, Friday (22/9/2023), one of the test sites showing increased activity is operated by China in the westernmost region of Xinjiang, Russia in the Arctic Ocean islands, and the US in the Nevada desert.
A professor at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Jeffrey Lewis, said satellite imagery from the last three to five years shows new tunnels under mountains, new roads and storage facilities, as well as increased incoming and outgoing vehicle traffic. from that location.
“There are many signs that we are seeing that suggest that Russia, China and the United States may resume nuclear testing,” he said, something those countries have not done since underground nuclear tests were banned by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1996.
China and the US signed the agreement, but they have not yet ratified it.
Retired US Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, a former intelligence analyst, reviewed images of the three countries’ nuclear sites and came to a similar conclusion.
“It is very clear that all three countries, Russia, China and the United States have invested a lot of time, effort and money not only in modernizing their nuclear arsenals, but also in preparing for the types of activities required for a nuclear test,” he said.
Satellite imagery obtained by CNN shows that there has been massive construction at Russia’s Novaya Zemlya test site from 2021 to 2023, with new ships and shipping containers arriving at its port, roads kept clear in winter, and tunnels -tunnels dug deep into the arctic mountains.
Russia’s Novaya Zemlya nuclear test site. Photo: CNN