Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization
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The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) is an international organization headquartered in Vienna, Austria.
Status
The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty has not yet entered into force, which will only occur 180 days after the Treaty has been ratified by the 44 States listed in its Annex 2. Therefore the CTBTO is not yet operational. A Preparatory Commission was established in 1997 to prepare for the future work of the CTBTO.As of October 2005, 41 of these 44 states have signed the treaty (North Korea, India, and Pakistan have not), and 34 have ratified (China, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, and the U.S.A. have not), making entry into force unlikely in the near future.
Mandate
The Preparatory Commission is tasked with making preparations for effective implementation of the Treaty, in particular by estabishing its verification regime. The main task is establishing and provisionally operating the 337 facility International Monitoring System (IMS), including its International Data Centre (IDC) and Global Communications Infrastructure (GCI). The Commission is tasked also with the development of operational manuals, including a manual to guide conduct of on-site inspections.
International Monitoring System (IMS)
The IMS, when completed, will be comprised of
- 50 primary and 120 auxiliary seismic monitoring stations. Primary stations deliver data online in real time, whereas auxiliary stations provide data upon request. Seismic data is used to locate seismic events and to distinguish between an underground nuclear explosion and the numerous earthquakes that occur around the globe.
- 11 hydro-acoustic stations detecting acoustic waves in the oceans. Six of these are hydrophone stations that use underwater microphones that transmit signals via cable to a shore station. Hydrophone stations are extremely sensitive and pick up acoustic waves from underwater events, including explosions, occurring very far away. The other five are seismic stations located on islands (T-phase stations) that use seismometers to detect acoustic waves converted to seismic waves when they hit the island.
- 60 infra-sound stations using microbarographs (acoustic pressure sensors) to detect very low-frequency sound waves in the atmosphere produced by natural and man-made events. These stations are arrays of four to eight sensors which are located one to three kilometers apart. The data are used to locate and to distinguish between atmospheric explosions and natural phenomena such as meteorites, explosive volcanoes and meteorological events as well as man-made phenomena such as re-entering space debris, rocket launches and supersonic aircraft.
- 80 radionuclide stations using air samplers to detect radioactive particles released from atmospheric explosions and/or vented from underground or under-water explosions. The presence of specific radionuclides provides unambiguous evidence of a nuclear explosion.
Global Communications Infrastructure (GCI)
Data from all stations are transmitted to the CTBTO International Data Centre (IDC) in Vienna through a global private data network known as GCI, which is largely based on satellite (VSAT) links.
As of mid-2005, more than one-half of the planned IMS stations were providing data.
International Data Centre (IDC)
At the IDC, IMS data collected through GCI - approximately 5 gigabytes per day - is stored and correlated using custom software to generate reports of significant events, which are subsequently reviewed by specially trained analysts in order to prepare quality-controlled event bulletins.
The IDC operates a large redundant database of events and a 125 terabyte mass storage facility that provides archiving capacity for more than ten years of verification data.
State Parties have equal and direct access to all IMS data, raw or processed, for verification as well as civilian uses.
On Site Inspection (OSI)
If an event detected by the IMS (or by other means) raises concerns about compliance with the basic obligations of the CTBT, an OSI may be conducted to clarify whether a nuclear explosion has taken place. Such an inspection could take place only after entry into force of the Treaty, and would require agreement by at least 30 of the 51 members of the CTBTO's Executive Council. An inspection area of up to 1000 square kilometres would be searched by a team of inspectors (up to 40).
Facts and Figures
The CTBTO Provisional Technical Secretariat (CTBTO PTS) started its work in Vienna on 17 March 1997.
The first Executive Secretary was Mr Wolfgang Hoffmann of Germany, succeeded by Mr Tibor Tóth of Hungary on August 1st, 2005.
The budget for 2005 is $51m + €42.5m for a total equivalent of US$105m.
As of 19 January 2005, CTBTO PTS had a staff of 265, from 72 countries.
CTBTO headquarters are located at the Vienna International Centre, the UN campus that also hosts the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
See also
Comprehensive Test Ban TreatyExternal link
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