www.ctbto.org 19 CTBTO SpectruM ctbto Magazine issue 19 | septeMber 2012 Vision of a world without nuclear weapons ForMer ForMer director chile’s Finland’s un under-secretary-general oF los alaMos Foreign Minister Foreign Minister For disarMaMent aFFairs national laboratory Alfredo erkki JayAnthA Siegfried Moreno tuoMiojA dhAnApAlA Hecker The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) bans all nuclear explosions. It opened for signature on 24 September 1996 in New York. As of September 2012, 183 countries had signed the Treaty and 157 had ratified it. Of the 44 nuclear capable States which must ratify the CTBT for it to enter into force, the so-called Annex 2 countries, 36 have done so to date while eight have yet to ratify: China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States. On February 6 2012, Indonesia completed its ratification of the CTBT. The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear- Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) consists of the States Signatories and the Provisional Technical Secretariat. The main tasks of the CTBTO are to promote signatures and ratifications and to establish a global verification regime capable of detecting nuclear explosions underground, underwater and in the atmosphere. The regime must be operational when the Treaty enters into force. It will consist of 337 monitoring facilities supported by an International Data Centre and on-site inspection measures. As of 3 September 2012 over 80 percent of the facilities at the International Monitoring System (IMS) were operational. cover iMAge: Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev at the Reykjavik summit in 1986. Photo Courtesy of David & Peter Turnley/Corbis cover deSign: Krzysztof Kolasinski Table of contentS editoriAl 2 CTBTO's Executve Secretary Tibor Tóth treAty StAtuS 3 CTBT signatures and ratifications (as of 3 September 2012) VOICES 4 The CTBT and its data: A powerful instrument for peace and human security by Alfredo Moreno, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile 7 Dual dividends: The CTBT strengthens global security architecture and benefits the whole world by Erkki Tuomioja, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland 10 Defusing the nuclear powder keg: How Asian nations can lead by example by Jayantha Dhanapala, Former UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs 12 Nuclear testing times: In India, membership of the CTBT is not on the agenda. But perhaps it's time to reconsider by Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, Foreign Editor, Hindustan Times 16 Disarmament and non-proliferation education: Recent developments and the way forward by Elena K. Sokova, Executive Director, Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation 19 A winning gambit: Nuclear armed States stand to gain more than they lose from CTBT ratification by Siegfried S. Hecker, Former Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory civil And Scientific Applic AtionS 24 The Fukushima nuclear accident: Lessons learned and possible implications by Tatsujiro Suzuki, Vice Chairman, Japan Atomic Energy Commission verificAtion Science 28 Helping to make the world a safer place A crucial link in a global network of monitoring stations: primary seismic station PS31 by Ik Bum Kang, Principal Researcher, Korea Institute of GeoScience and Mineral Resources StAtion StAtuS 33 Certified International Monitoring System facilities (as of 3 September 2012) 34 Practice makes perfect: Getting ready for the next full inspection simulation by Kirsten Haupt, former CTBTO Staff Member MAking WaveS: gueSt writerS ShAre their perSonAl viewS on nucleAr-relA ted topicS 38 A grim, unwanted legacy by Angela Leuker, CTBTO Public Information writer and multimedia producer 1 CTBtO SPECTRUM 19 | SepteMBer 2012 editoriAl tibor tÓth executive SecretAry Organization (CTBTO) have been sharing next full-scale on-site simulation in Jordan their data with tsunami warning centres in 2014. She provides readers with an around the world since 2005. impression of the vast technical and logistical challenges involved. Chile’s Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno describes in his article the Non-proliferation training and important role of the IMS when the education activities also play a pivotal role magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck Chile on in promoting the Treaty and its verification 27 February 2010, claiming many lives. regime. In this respect, the CTBTO About 20 IMS seismic stations sent their launched the Capacity Development data within less than one minute to the Initiative (CDI) in 2011 to train the next CTBTO in Vienna, where they were generation of experts in all legal, political, forwarded immediately to tsunami warning technical and scientific aspects of the CTBT centres in the Pacific Ocean. One of the and its verification regime. Elena Sokova This year on 27 September, foreign stations that contributed to this early of the Vienna Center for Disarmament and ministers will once again gather at the warning effort, hydroacoustic station HA03 Non-Proliferation concludes that the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Juan Fernandez Island, around 600 availability of dedicated disarmament and to promote the entry into force of the kilometres off the Chilean coast, was itself non-proliferation programmes and courses Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty subsequently destroyed by the tsunami falls short of demand and should be more (CTBT). Participants will make a wave and is currently being rebuilt. comprehensive, sustainable, and global. commitment at the highest political level The CDI is therefore a timely and welcome regarding the urgency of securing this Tatsujiro Suzuki of the Japan Atomic development in this field, she explains. objective. The meeting will result in a Joint Energy Commission highlights the Ministerial Statement appealing to all significance of another application of CTBT The cessation of all nuclear tests would States to make the utmost effort to data: monitoring the spread of radioactive be a monumental step towards the establish a legally-binding, comprehensive particles and noble gases around the globe, elimination of nuclear weapons, a goal prohibition on all nuclear explosions. as was the case after the Fukushima which US President Ronald Reagan and nuclear accident. The Foreign Editor of Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev One of the conveners of the meeting, Hindustan Times, Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, came close to achieving at the 1986 summit Finland’s Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, also refers to the use of CTBT verification in Reykjavik, Iceland. More than 25 years argues in this issue of Spectrum that the data for disaster mitigation, which, in his later, the meeting’s potential to CTBT’s entry into force will considerably opinion, is an added incentive for India to fundamentally change the course of history strengthen the global security architecture join the Treaty. continues to ignite the imagination. In order and benefit the whole world. Nuclear to stimulate debate on the lessons learned, scientist Siegfried S. Hecker comes to a The raison d’être of the IMS is, of opportunities missed and what is needed similar conclusion, maintaining that nuclear course, to detect nuclear explosions, but today to move forward with nuclear possessor States stand to gain more than nuclear testing will only be outlawed once disarmament, the CTBTO is organizing a they lose from CTBT ratification. And former the CTBT has entered into force. Ik Bum reading of the play ‘Reykjavik’ by Pulitzer UN Under-Secretary-General for Kang, the former Project Manager of Prize winner Richard Rhodes on 27 Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha Dhanapala, primary seismic station PS31 in the September 2012 in New York. The reading urges more countries to follow the example Republic of Korea, describes the role the will be followed by a panel discussion of Indonesia and ratify the Treaty, showing station played when North Korea entitled ’25 years since Reykjavik – will we how Asian nations can lead by example. conducted its first nuclear test on 9 get it right in the next 25?’ Gorbachev will October 2006. North Korea is one of eight deliver a video message to open the By banning all nuclear explosions, the countries that must sign and/or ratify the discussion, which will feature key players Treaty’s political benefits are evident. Less Treaty before it can enter into force. from the 1986 summit. Progress towards the obvious is the contribution of CTBT CTBT’s entry into force over the coming monitoring data to disaster mitigation, such While preparing for this, the CTBTO years will be a sure indicator of whether the as tsunami warnings. State-of-the art is carrying out a number of on-site lessons learned from the Reykjavik summit facilities making up the International inspection exercises and field experiments. have been heeded. Monitoring System (IMS) of the In her article, former CTBTO staff member Preparatory Commission for the Kirsten Haupt takes an in-depth look at Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty some of the exercises leading up to the 2 CTBtO SPECTRUM 19 | SepteMBer 2012 StAtuS of SignAtureS And rAtificAtionS AS of 3 SepteMber 2012 ICELAND FINLAND RUSSIAN FEDERATION NORWAY SWEDEN ESTONIA CANADA UNITED KINGDOM NETHERLANDS POLAND UKRAINE GERMANY CZECH REPUBLIC REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA HUNGARY KAZAKHSTAN AUSTRIA FRANCE ROMANIA MONGOLIA ITALY BULGARIA GEORGIA UZBEKISTAN KYRGYZSTAN DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE`S REPUBLIC OF KOREA PORTUGAL SPAIN AZERBAIJAN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TURKMENISTAN TURKEY ARMENIA TAJIKISTAN GREECE REPUBLIC JAPAN OF KOREA CYPRUS SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC