“It will take all of us working together – government officials, and diplomats, academic experts, and scientists, activists, and organizers – to come up with new and innovative approaches to strengthen transparency and predictability, reduce risk, and forge the next generation of arms control agreements.”
Project for the CTBT
The Project for the CTBT aims to support and coordinate the work of NGOs and policy, scientific and security experts in order to provide the public and policy-makers with sound information and analysis about the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The following updates provide news and analyses on the status of the treaty and work of the CTBT Organization. To receive these by email, subscribe to our regular updates list.
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As of November 19, 2018, Australia’s International Monitoring System (IMS) stations for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) are “operational and certified.” This marks significant progress in the CTBTO’s mission to establish 337 stations throughout the world to monitor for nuclear tests.
On June 27, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing about a bill to expand the compensation benefits granted under the 1990 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). Senator Tom Udall (D-NM), who co-sponsored the bill, testified alongside four individuals from Idaho, New Mexico, Guam and the Navajo Nation.
August 29, 2018 marks the eighth International Day against Nuclear Tests. From August 28 to September 2, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) and the Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry will be hosting the 2018 CTBTO Group of Eminent Persons (GEM) and Youth International Conference in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Dr. Lassina Zerbo, the Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), spoke at a June 14, 2018 event on the role of technology in North Korean disarmament, which was co-sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Arms Control Association. Zerbo emphasized the importance of “getting the ball over the goal line” when it comes to North Korean disarmament.
A new survey shows that 20 years after the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the majority of Americans still support the test ban.
Following a late April announcement by Kim Jong Un, North Korea announced on May 24 that it had destroyed its nuclear testing site at Punggye-ri.
Tariq Rauf, an independent consultant for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, makes the case for a CTBTO presence at the upcoming closure of the Punggye-ri test site in a May 13 article.
George Perkovich assesses the impact of India’s first nuclear tests, 20 years later, by reviewing then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s letter to U.S. President Bill Clinton explaining India’s rationale.
Jon Wolfsthal, Global Zero’s Nuclear Crisis Group director, recommends steps North Korea can take to build on its pledge to shut down its Punggye-ri test site and stop further nuclear weapons tests in a May 7 article for 38 North.
Two different teams of Chinese geologists reported that North Korea’s sixth nuclear test damaged the mountain over the Punggye-ri test site, which North Korea promised to shut down in May. Neither research team concluded that the mountain damage rendered the site unusable, despite recent media reports to the contrary.