US conducts atomic test amid global urge for nuclear disarmament
The US has conducted a nuclear test in Nevada to examine the effectiveness of its atomic weapons stockpile amid the growing global urge for nuclear disarmament. The US Energy Department announced that the Wednesday nuclear test was aimed at providing “crucial information to maintain the safety and effectiveness of the nation's nuclear weapons.” The subcritical experiment, known as Pollux, was conducted by the staff from the Nevada National Security Site, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. Subcritical nuclear tests examine the behavior of plutonium when shocked by forces produced by chemical high explosives.According to UN figures, the US, which is the only country that has ever used atomic bombs against human beings, has conducted 1,032 nuclear tests since 1945. The Nevada experiment has drawn sharp criticism from the Japanese city of Hiroshima, as the first victim of atomic weapons:“I wonder why [US] President [Barack] Obama, who said he would seek a nuclear-free world, carried out the test," Hiroshima mayor Kazumi Matsui told reporters.