CTBT: LLNL's Impact on US Nuclear Policy from 1958 to 2000
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THE COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY: LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY’S IMPACT ON U.S. NUCLEAR LIVERMORE LABORATORY’S IMPACT LAWRENCE THE BROWN NATIONAL COMPREHENSIVE POLICY TEST BAN 2000 TREATY: PAUL TO FROM 1958 THE COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY: LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY’S IMPACT ON U.S.NUCLEAR POLICY FROM 1958 TO 2000 PAUL BROWN THE COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Impact on U.S. Nuclear Policy from 1958 to 2000 Paul Brown Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Office of Defense Coordination P.O. Box 808, Livermore, CA 94551 April 2019 (925) 424-6325 Acronyms AFTAC Air Force Technical Applications Center ABM Anti-ballistic missile ACDA Arms Control and Disarmament Agency AEC Atomic Energy Commission CINCPAC Commander in chief of the Pacific CTB Comprehensive test ban CTBT Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty CTBTO Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization CD Conference on Disarmament DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency DDR&E Department of Defense Research and Engineering DNA Defense Nuclear Agency DoD Department of Defense DOE Department of Energy DP Defense Programs ENDC Eighteen Nation Disarmament Committee FLR Federal Laboratory Review GSE Group of Scientific Experts HASC House Armed Services Committee HEDEF High-energy-density experimental facility HE High explosive HASC House Armed Services Committee ICF Inertial confinement fusion IFE Integrated field exercise JVE Joint Verification Experiment LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory LEP Life extension program LTBT Limited Test Ban Treaty LANL Los Alamos National Laboratory This document was produced by the Office of Defense Coordination within the Director’s Office LYNM Low-yield nuclear monitoring at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. NAS National Academy of Sciences NDC National Data Center NIF National Ignition Facility Technical comments and queries are encouraged and should be directed to Dr. Craig R. Wuest, NNSA National Nuclear Security Administration (925) 423-2909, [email protected]. NSC National Security Council NSS National seismic station NTS Nevada Test Site NPT Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United NTEM Nuclear Test Experts Meeting States government. Neither the United States government nor Lawrence Livermore National OTA Office of Technology Assessment OSI Onsite inspection Security, LLC, nor any of their employees makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or PNE Peaceful Nuclear Explosion assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of PDD Presidential Decision Directive any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would PNET Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty PRM Presidential Review Memorandum not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, PSAC President’s Science Advisory Committee process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily RSTN Regional Seismic Test Network constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States RRW Reliable Replacement Warhead SNL Sandia National Laboratories government or Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC. The views and opinions of authors SASC Senate Armed Services Committee expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government or SFRC Senate Foreign Relations Committee Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, and shall not be used for advertising or product SVA Separate Verification Agreement endorsement purposes. SSMP Stockpile Stewardship Management Plan SSP Stockpile Stewardship Program SALT Strategic Arms Limitation Talks/Treaty This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by SDI Strategic Defense Initiative Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. START Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty TTBT Threshold Test Ban Treaty LLNL-TR-765657 TID-53407 U.C. University of California Foreword and Acknowledgments This history is the final work of Dr. Paul S. Brown, who served in a va- riety of technical and management positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for more than 50 years. In this work, Paul focuses on aspects of arms control during the timeframe of 1958 to 2000, particularly on issues related to the need for nuclear testing and the efforts that would eventually bring about its end as a result of U.S. policy actions in light of the changing geopolitical and technical drivers and constraints. Paul’s history provides a perspective of how the issues surrounding nuclear testing evolved, with an emphasis on LLNL’s participation over the years. He describes key events as they relate to nuclear testing and its ban, such as the development of the stockpile stewardship program. This represents a mostly finished effort, with some final editing. Unfortunately for the Laboratory and the nation, Paul passed away before this work was completed. However, he was active in shaping the final draft up until the time of his death, while valiantly fighting a host of medical challenges. This work is a fitting tribute to Paul’s dedi- cation and service to the country, and it is hoped that technologists, scholars, and policy makers can learn from the events described herein as the U.S. navigates its challenging national security course for the 21st century. A variety of sources were used to provide an accounting of some of the Laboratory’s contributions over the decades relating to the events surrounding the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Sources include excerpts from previous LLNL publications such as Energy and Technology Review, and the Laboratory’s 40th an- niversary publication;* Dr. Milo Nordyke’s unpublished draft history of the Laboratory’s involvement in the nuclear test ban negotiations (Nordyke was LLNL’s treaty verification program leader from the time The author, Paul Brown. the program was formed in 1976 to the 1980s); Dr. Glenn Seaborg’s * Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Preparing for the 21st Century, 40 Years of Excellence, UCRL-AR-108618. COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY | vii book, Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Test Ban*; Dr. Herbert York’s C. Bruce Tarter, Mr. John Nuckolls, Dr. Paul Chrzanowski, Dr. Carol book, Making Weapons, Talking Peace: A Physicist’s Journey from Alonso, and Mr. David Brown. Finally, a special acknowledgment is Hiroshima to Geneva†; extracted, unclassified excerpts from Dr. owed to Ms. Gabriele Rennie, who worked closely with Paul during William Ogle’s early test ban history‡; and Benjamin Greene’s book, the final months of his life, and whose expertise in scientific and Eisenhower, Science Advice, and the Nuclear Test-Ban Debate, technical editing was crucial to the completion of this history. 1945–1963.§ The LLNL technical report archives provided a key source for Dr. Craig R. Wuest Laboratory involvement from the 1950s through the 1970s, and LLNL, December 2018 we extend our thanks to former Laboratory archivist Maxine Trost, who organized the archives to make it easier to find documents and helped in locating information. We also thank Laboratory archivist Jeffrey Sahaida, who helped us locate photographs for this book. This history also benefits from the work of Dr. Carol Alonso, who was LLNL’s assistant associate director for national security in the 1990s. Alonso wrote a draft white paper, “The Road to Zero Yield,” that describes the events that led the U.S. to adopt a zero nuclear yield position for the CTBT negotiations that began in 1995.**¶ She also provided excellent references to public materials, such as congres- sional testimonies, that were not readily available in the Laboratory’s files. Information was also gleaned from a number of Laboratory and interagency reports, and personal communications between Labora- tory personnel and other individuals involved in test ban negotiations and deliberations or who supported the representatives at the meetings. During the time that Paul was working on this history and after his death, a number of colleagues and experts were involved in the completion of the final draft of Paul’s work. We are sure he would have wanted to acknowledge the contributions and support of Dr. Jay Zucca, Dr. Bill Dunlop, Dr. Wayne Shotts, Dr. George Miller, Dr. * G. Seaborg, Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Test Ban, University of California Press, 1981. † H. York, Making Weapons, Talking Peace: A Physicist’s Journey from Hiroshima to Geneva, Harper & Row, 1987. ‡ Account of the Return to Nuclear Weapons Testing by the United States after the Test Moratorium 1958–1961, U.S. DOE Nevada Operations Office, October 1985, NVO-291. § B.P. Greene, Eisenhower, Science Advice, and the Nuclear Test-Ban Debate, 1945–1963, Stanford University Press, 2007, p. 145. **¶ C. Alonso, “The Road to Zero Yield,” June 1996. This unpublished draft report was marked “In Strictest Confidence” because of the political sensitivities at the time regarding what people said or did and in what context it occurred. However, more than twenty years have passed, and we have been careful to avoid any political sensitivities. viii | PAUL BROWN COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY | ix Contents Laboratory Studies on Permitted Experiments . 94 Shaping DOE Secretary Hazel O’Leary’s Views and Her Visit to Livermore . 95 Hydronuclear Experiments . 100 The Dellums Report on the National Ignition