Edition

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: Technical Issues for the U.S.

IN THIS ISSUE: The CTBT, images show N. Korea launch work, Clinton on Iran, India to test long-range missile in two weeks, S. Africa considers nuclear fuel cycle facilities, Japan holds off on decision on idled reactors.

Published on April 3, 2012
 

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: Technical Issues for the United States

National Research Council

Semipalatinsk

The United States is now in a better position than at any time in the past to maintain a safe and effective nuclear weapons stockpile without testing and to monitor clandestine nuclear testing abroad, says a new report from the National Research Council.

The report, requested by the Office of the Vice President and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, reviews and updates a 2002 study that examined the technical concerns raised about the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The report does not take a position on whether the U.S. should ratify the treaty.

"So long as the nation is fully committed to securing its weapons stockpile and provides sufficient resources for doing so, the U.S. has the technical capabilities to maintain safe, reliable nuclear weapons into the foreseeable future without the need for underground weapons testing," said Ellen D. Williams, chief scientist at BP and chair of the committee that wrote the report. "In addition, U.S. and international technologies to monitor weapons testing by other countries are significantly better now than they were a decade ago."     Full Article



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