Digests and Blog

A primary seismic station within the CTBT’s International Monitoring System (IMS), used to deter and detect nuclear tests, has finished construction in the Middle East. The station, named PS44, was recently completed near Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, a few kilometers from the border of Iran. It is one of 337 monitoring stations around the world designed to verify the CTBT. 75% of the IMS has already been built and certified, and is actively transmitting data. The station’s recording facility started transmitting seismic information to the CTBT’s International Data Cenre (IDC) on October 5, 2008…

Some of the notable news articles and op-eds related to the CTBT from this fall include: Daryl G. Kimball, "The Case for the CTBT," Foreign Service Journal, December 2009. Kaegan McGrath, "Verifiability, Reliability and National Security: The Case for U.S. Ratification of the CTBT," The Nonproliferation Review, November 2008, pp 407 - 433. David Hafemeister, "Assessing the Merits of the CTBT," The Nonproliferation Review, November 2008, pp. 473-482. Daryl G. Kimball, "Why We Don't Need to Resume Nuclear Testing: A Reply to Senator Jon Kyl's 'Why We Need to Test Nuclear Weapons',"…

In late November, the long-awaited executive summary of a JASON study on the Stockpile Stewardship Programs was released. Conducted by a select group of eminent independent scientists, the study concluded that the U.S. nuclear arsenal can be maintained indefinitely through existing stockpile stewardship programs, without nuclear testing or pursuing new warhead designs. The study stated that, "Lifetimes of today's nuclear warheads could be extended for decades, with no anticipated loss in confidence, by using approaches similar to those employed in LEPs to date."

Today is the 10 year anniversary of the Senate’s failed attempt to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In this month’s Arms Control Today, Daryl Kimball writes a “Looking Back” feature, reflecting on the mistakes made and lessons learned from the 1999 vote.Deeply involved in the NGO effort to support CTBT ratification in the 1990s, Kimball recalls the lack of high-level executive leadership on the treaty, and the overwhelming presence of non-substantive, partisan politicking. “The ‘no’ vote had less to do with the substantive issues,” Kimball writes, “and was more a consequence of the…

On September 24-25th, the CTBTO held its 6th biennial Article XIV Entry into Force conference at the UN in New York. The CTBT treaty text contains a special mechanism to promote its entry into force through a conference, held every other year, designed to facilitate concrete steps to promote entry into force, which requires a group of 44 specific states to ratify.The conference was attended by representatives from 103 states, and several NGO representatives. Signaling the Obama administration’s deep commitment to ratification of the CTBT, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton represented the…

Last week, a retired Indian defense scientist, K. Santhanam, claimed 10 years after the fact, that one of India's nuclear tests in 1998 was a fizzle. He said in a press interview that the yield in the thermonuclear device test was much lower than what was claimed. Mr. Santhanam, who only cited unspecified seismic measurements and expert opinion from world over, said that due to the failed test, India should not sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).The Indian government has strongly refuted Santhanam's charges.Principal Scientific Adviser R. Chidambaram told The Hindu that those…

In recent public statements and congressional hearings, Obama administration officials have indicated that they will reverse Bush-era policies on a number of major arms control issues. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Obama appointees have said that they will actively pursue ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) as well as a new strategic arms agreement with Russia and have revised the U.S. approach to negotiations on a treaty banning the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons.The statements made clear that the new administration…