The World of Nuclear Science

Nuclear Non-Proliferation - The UN CTBT

Nuclear non-proliferation is the doctrine of nuclear weapons technology being confined to only those countries that already have it. The principle is that no country should share or export its nuclear weapons technology to any other country that does not already have that knowledge.

The United Nations Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, shortened to the UN CNTBT, was a concept drafted by the United Nations at the Conference on Disarmament, in Geneva, Switzerland. The draft was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1996. It completely prohibits any nuclear weapons test explosion or any other nuclear explosion, anywhere in the world.

At the beginning of July 2000, 155 countries had signed the treaty, and 60 of those countries had ratified it. However, there are 44 countries that must sign and ratify the treaty before it actually comes into effect. These 44 countries were those that participated in the disarmament conference, and those that were listed in publications by the International Atomic Energy Agency as having a nuclear reactor.

At July 2000, some of the countries that had signed the treaty but had not yet ratified it included Algeria, China, Colombia, Congo, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Ukraine, USA and Vietnam. These countries are included in the 44 that must sign and ratify. Russia ratified the treaty at the end of June 2000.

All five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia, France, Great Britain, China and the USA have all signed the treaty.

The 3 countries of the 44 required that had not signed the treaty were North Korea, India and Pakistan.

You can find a complete listing and an up-to-date status of these 44 countries at http://www.ctbto.org/cgi-bin/ctbto_states.cgi?List=Required.

All signatories to the Treaty have agreed to not conduct any nuclear explosions of any kind. These signatory countries have also agreed to not encourage or participate in a nuclear explosion, whether for weapons testing or any other purpose.

Monitoring of adherance to the Treaty will be done by a global network of 337 facilities that will be able to detect nuclear explosions anywhere in the world. This network includes 170 seismic, 80 radionuclide, 60 infrasound and 11 hydroacoustic detection stations, along with 16 radionuclide laboratories placed in locations around the world. These facilities will provide information to a central organisation, and any suspicious occurence can be questions by UN members through discussions, or on-site inspections. The International Court of Justice may also be utilised to give an advisory opinion.

There are provisions in the Treaty to allow nuclear explosions for the research into peaceful purposes, excluding military benefits. It is designed to allow nuclear explosions should future scientific research find there be a peaceful benefit, or explosions providing peaceful (scientific) information. Currently, the Treaty says that no nuclear explosions of any kind for any purpose are allowed, but at the request of any country the "peaceful purposes" provisions may be brought into effect. (In other words, these provisions do not exist yet, but they may at a later date.)

The CTBTO Preparatory Commission provides more information about the treaty on its website, including the full text of the treaty, and listings of signatory countries.

In April 1954, the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru made the first proposal of banning all nuclear weapons testing.

It was not until 1963 that the Partial Test Ban Treaty actually applied some of those principles. This Partial Treaty banned nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, outer space and underwater. However, underground testing was still allowed. The Treaty also imposed a maximum underground testing weapons strength of no more than the equivilent of 150 kilotons of TNT.

Despite the Partial Treaty, there were still over 2000 reported nuclear weapons tests since the first in 1945. The Comprehensive Treaty is the beginning of an effort to end all nuclear weapons testing of any kind.