Let's say the US balkanizes, becomes decentralized and finally stateless. What to do with the nukes that were left over? Who controls them if there's no central power? Obviously, there should just be no nukes, but let's say other countries that are still states have them, so would it be prudent to denuclearize?
Yeah, it's probably not very realistic to even assume that there won't be the USA but there will still be the nukes. They'd probably rather detonate them before losing power.