Nuclear testing was once something of a competitive sport in the 1990s. With the United Nations pushing for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, the world's major powers rushed to conduct one final round of tests before the treaty could take effect. Over the course of that decade, the Soviet Union, the United States, France, China, India, and Pakistan all carried out nuclear tests. After North Korea conducted a live nuclear test in 2017, however, no nation has initiated a nuclear test for eight years running.
「核試」曾經是1990年代的熱門運動：由於聯合國在1996年推動《全面禁止核試驗條約》，各大國都趕緊在條約生效前作最後測試，在1990年代，蘇聯、美國、法國、中國、印度及巴基斯坦均進行了核試，北韓在2017年實爆核試後，8年來世上已再無國家啟動核試驗了。
Why Conduct Nuclear Tests at All?
The reasons fall into two broad categories. There are the practical motivations: ensuring that a nation's nuclear weapons remain reliable and safe, maintaining an existing arsenal, or developing new weapons. And there are the political motivations: strategic deterrence and the use of demonstrated nuclear capability as a bargaining chip in international negotiations.
Whatever the justification, however, one consequence is constant and unavoidable: the radiation released by nuclear testing inflicts serious and lasting damage on the surface environment, the subsurface, and the world's oceans. The environmental cost is paid regardless of the strategic rationale behind it.
為甚麼需要核試？可以是實際原因：確保核武可靠安全、維護核武庫或研發新核武；也可以是戰略威懾與國際談判籌碼等政治原因，不過任何原因，核試的輻射都會對地表、地下和海洋環境造成嚴重破壞。
A Sobering Historical Note
As a superpower, the Soviet Union conducted its final nuclear tests in 1990 — and collapsed not long afterward. The United States carried out its most recent nuclear test in 1992, primarily to verify and ensure the reliability, performance, and safety of newly developed warheads — particularly the W88 warhead used in submarine-launched ballistic missiles — alongside the broader arsenal of the time.
作為超級大國，蘇聯在1990年核試不久後覆亡了；美國最近的一次核試在1992年，當年主要目的是為了驗證並確保新型核彈頭（特別是潛射彈道飛彈用的W88彈頭）及當時核武庫的可靠性、效能和安全性。
A Return to Testing?
In late October 2025, President Trump made a notable statement: the United States, he said, had halted nuclear weapons testing many years ago — but given that other nations were conducting their own tests, he believed the U.S. should resume doing so as well. The U.S. Energy Secretary subsequently clarified that the weapons testing program would not include nuclear detonations, but would instead involve testing other components of the nuclear weapons systems.
在上月（2025年10月）底，特朗普表示：「我們很多年前就停止了核武試驗…但既然其他國家都在進行核試驗，我認為我們也應該進行。」其後美國能源部長補充，核武系統試驗計劃不包括核爆，是測試核武器的其他部件。
核試的理由是「人有我又要有」？這個特朗普…