Nuclear Test Ban May End Soon Globally

Nuclear weapons tests used to happen regularly, but most countries have not tested any weapons in decades. This followed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which was adopted in 1996. Now, that ban might be coming to an end, as some politicians, including U.S. President Donald Trump, have suggested restarting nuclear tests.

The CTBT was signed by many countries but not fully approved by the U.S. and a few others, so the treaty has not officially come into force. Even so, most countries have followed its rules until now.

The last nuclear test was carried out in 2017 by North Korea, the only country to test a nuclear weapon this century.