[hinckley buzzard]

I cant understand why they would build a tunnel to test a nuclear bomb

That's a good point. I believe one reason we finally agreed to go along with a test ban is because computer simulations had made actual tests unnecessary.

We should be tracking Iran's investment in supercomputing capacity.

[Beckwith]

I believe one reason we finally agreed to go along with a test ban is because computer simulations had made actual tests unnecessary.

It seems to me that computer simulations work because the US had built a bunch of nukes before the invention of computers and had years of hands-on experience and tons of data with which to build the simulations once the supercomputers showed up.

Starting from scratch, I can't imagine designing, building and testing a nuke based on computer programs. Think Microsoft!