Nuclear Test Ban: Converting Political Visions to Reality

ISBN-13: 9781402068836 / Angielski / Twarda / 2009 / 250 str.

Ola Dahlman; Svein Mykkeltveit; Hein Haak

Opis

Nuclear tests have caused public concern ever since the first such test was conducted, more than six decades ago. During the Cold War, however, con- tions were not conducive to discussing a complete ban on nuclear testing. It was not until 1993 that negotiations on such a treaty finally got under way. From then on, things moved relatively quickly: in 1996, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). To date, the Treaty has been signed by 178 states and ratified by 144, though it has yet to enter into force, as nine out of 44 ''Annex 2 states'', whose ratification is mandatory, have not heeded the call. Nevertheless, the CTBT verification system is already provisionally operational and has proven its effectiveness. We commend the CTBT organisation in Vienna for its successful efforts to build a verification network. This book is an excellent overview of the evolution of the CTBT and its verification regime. The authors are eminent scholars from the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden who have been intimately involved with the CTBT and its verification agency, the CTBTO Preparatory Commission, from their inc- tion to the present day. They have written a thorough and engaging narrative of the long road that led to the CTBT. Their story will appeal to both the layman and the expert and provide useful lessons for future negotiations on disarmament issues.

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"Drawing from their experience, the authors provide a well-structured and comprehensive view of the CTBT, from the construction of nuclear devices to the promising first results of the monitoring system of the treaty. In an impeccable edition, the chapters are clearly divided into subsections, and numerous illustrations are used to clarify the arguments in the text."

G. Suarez, EOS Newsletter, Vol. 91, No. 21, p. 193

"The book focuses on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the CTBT Organization (CTBTO) that runs the International Monitoring System (IMS) and the International Data Centre (IDC). The authors are experienced researchers with outstanding experience in seismic monitoring and who have helped to create what is now CTBTO. ... seems very important to scientists dealing with seismic- or hydroacoustic, infrasound and radionuclide monitoring ... ." (Pawel Wiejacz, Pure and Applied Geophysics, Vol. 167, 2010)

"It is a solid reference edition concerning the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), International Nuclear Explosion Monitoring System (IMS) and Preparatory Commission of the CTBT Organization. ... the authors produced a multilayered book in which one can distinguish several conceptual layers. ... the text is supplied with a lot of photographs, maps and diagrams ... . The structure of the book is designed to make good that thesis. ... gives the reader a holistic view of the diplomatic struggle for the nuclear test ban." (Alexey Fenenko, International Trends, Vol. 8 (3), September-December, 2010)

Spis treści

Foreword Preface Chapter 1 To test or not to test… 1.1 Testing history - more than 2000 nuclear explosions 1. 2 Nuclear weapons – with and without testing 1. 3 Why a Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty? 1.4 Related nuclear arms control and disarmament treaties Chapter 2. Monitoring technologies 2.1 Nuclear explosions - detectable features 2.2 Detection, location and identification 2.3 Seismological monitoring 2.4 Hydroacoustic monitoring 2.5 Infrasound monitoring 2.6 Radionuclide monitoring 2.7 Detection from space 2.8 Enabling technologies Chapter 3 A long journey to a treaty 3.1 Past test ban initiatives 3.2 Group of Scientific Experts 3.3 The CTBT negotiations 1994 – 96 3.4 Critical issues during the negotiations 3.5 Reflections on the negotiations Chapter 4 The Treaty 4.1 The preamble 4.2 Basic obligations 4.3 The Organization 4.4 Verification 4.5 National implementation measures 4.6 Entry into force 4.7 Reflections Chapter 5 The birth of an organization 5.1 The mandate of the CTBTO Preparatory Commission 5.2 Preparations for the first session of the CTBTO Preparatory Commission 5.3 The first session of the CTBTO Preparatory Commission 5.4 The initial enthusiasm 5.5 The early challenges Chapter 6 Establishing the verification regime 6.1 A complex monitoring system in a political environment 6.2 Building the monitoring system - a gradual but slow process 6.3 Some specific IMS issues 6.4 On-site inspections a politicized issue on a slow path Chapter 7 Testing shows high performance 7.1 Frombuilding to testing 7.2 Global tests show high performance of IMS/IDC 7.3 Exercises also get OSI on the move Chapter 8 National technical implementation of the CTBT 8.1 National commitments 8.2 National institutions play key roles in the global verification system 8.3 Basis for national interpretation 8.4 Regional cooperation 8.5 An assessment of the status of national technical implementation Chapter 9 The CTBTO Preparatory Commission and the PTS - an organizational perspective 9.1 The Policy Making Organs 9.2 Provisional Technical Secretariat (PTS) 9.3 Changing the guard Chapter 10 The CTBTO Preparatory Commission and the world 10.1 States Signatories, the CTBTO Preparatory Commission and the PTS 10.2 The CTBTO Preparatory Commission and international organizations 10.3 Synergy with science 10.4 The CTBT - hostage to today’s politics Chapter 11 Always too early to give up 11.1 Finally a CTBT - and then? A political perspective 11.2 Most complex verification system ever - a scientific perspective 11.3 Challenge to establish a technical organization in a political environment - a managerial perspective 11.4 Bringing the CTBT back on track 11.5 A new security agenda Annex 1 Annex 2 Abbreviations and acronyms References

Blurb

The book gives a broad presentation in laymen's language of the creation and the implementation of the treaty prohibiting nuclear test explosions (Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty: CTBT), one of the key guarantors of nuclear non-proliferation. The writers, who personally guided this work for more than 25 years, give a unique insight into the challenging international work to establish a complex technological system with global coverage in a political environment.

Extensive nuclear testing has occurred and this is comprehensively reviewed, as are the arguments in favour of a test ban and efforts to implement one. The Conference on Disarmament in Geneva witnessed unprecedented efforts by scientists from around the world to form a common understanding of how to verify a test ban treaty and develop a prototype global verification system; work that was significant in building confidence at the height of the Cold War. The political negotiations and Treaty itself are briefly analysed, but the main part of the book is devoted to more than a decade of effort by the Preparatory Commission for the CTBT Organization to implement the treaty and its verification system: the most comprehensive verification system ever created, with a global coverage connecting more than 300 monitoring stations and an intrusive on-site inspection regime.

The first, most promising test results are also presented. An essential element of the book is its assessment of the experience gained through many years of political, managerial and technical activity. Such lessons, if well learned, can benefit the negotiations of future international treaties where verification is crucial, such as in arms control, disarmament or the environment.

Audience:
This book will be of interest to professionals in political, diplomatic and military areas,  and to politicians and their staffs. Scientists and graduate students in political science and researchers at institutions in security related fields and at NGOs will find valuable information in this book.