ABSTRACT
Nuclear tests, properly instrumented, yield data which may permit better scientific understanding of nuclear processes. Every nuclear deterrent gambit implies the possibility of the weapons' military use. On any outer-limit scenario we can imagine, the importance of learning about the activity underway belowground would preclude crude nuclear blasts, intended to crush underground tunnels. Even if the laboratory extends its work to large-scale production, the means and the media required remain small by comparison to those for nuclear and missile engineering. Proposals for zero nuclear weapons are haunted by the specter that abandoning nuclear weapons would expose the state to old-style conventional warfare, now with industrial-strength weapons, and perhaps backed by populous hordes. One argument for retaining explosive nuclear devices is that only by exploding them—and carefully measuring what takes place—can a full-scale detonation be empirically observed and the discipline of nuclear physics advanced.
