An explosion caused by low-yield nuclear ?bunker-busting? devices meant to destroy deeply buried chemical and biological weapons would probably not sterilize those agents, but rather would disperse them into the surrounding environment, according to Robert Nelson a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
The U.S. is actively rethinking the role of its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Issues under consideration include: the resumption of nuclear testing, ambivalence over controlling chemical and biological weapons, and the development of new "bunker busting" nuclear weapons.
The U.S. Defense Department is pursuing an assortment of weapons concepts in hope of introducing a new arsenal that can safely and effectively neutralize research and storage facilities for weapons of mass destruction, according to military officials and defense experts.
The U.S. military is developing a nuclear warhead that could feasibly have application in the war against terrorism. The Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP) is designed to destroy underground bunkers?often hundreds of feet deep?that may hide chemical and biological weapons labs and are out of reach of modern conventional weapons but critics warn that it makes the use and possession of nuclear weapons more acceptable.
A ``low-yield'' nuclear weapon may be the best way to destroy underground stockpiles of chemical and biological agents, Defense Department officials say in a report to Congress.