PREPARATORY COMMISSION FOR THE
COMPRERENSIVE NUCLEAR-TEST-BAN TREATY ORGANIZATION (CTBTO)
P R 0 V I S I 0 N A L T E CII N I C A L S F C R E T A R I A T
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Statement to the third session of the Preparatory Committee for
the NPT 2000 Review Conference
Masabumi Sato, Director
Legal and External Relations Division
Mr. Chairman, distinguished representatives, ladies and gentlemen,
1. On behalf of Mr. Wolfgang Hoffinami, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory
Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO
Preparatory Commission), I should like to begin by thanking you for letting us address
you today.
(Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty)
2. You are all familiar with the genesis of the CTBT. Since 1997, the CTB TO
Preparatory Commission has been hard at work building up the global verification regime
mandated by the Treaty.
3. The CTBT is truly comprehensive; it prohibits any nuclear explosion anywhere and for whatever reason. The Treaty is not only an expression of intent not to carry out nuclear explosive tests, but also a commitment to ensure the Treaty's viability by establishing a global verification regime to monitor adherence to its provisions. The CTBT has created a moral and political norm against testing, promoting compliance even before entry into force.
(Signatures, ratification and support)
4. To date, 152 States have signed the CTBT, 34 of which have ratified it. Among the ratifying States are 17 of the 44 nuclear-capable States listed in the Treaty, whose ratification is necessary for its entry into force. Moreover, five non-signatory States, including Pakistan, participate in the Treaty's implementation.
5. Support for the Treaty by the States Signatories is strong. As at 28 April, 90.06 per cent and 61.78 per cent of the assessed financial contributions for the Preparatory Commission's 1998 ($58.4 million) and 1999 ($74.7 million) budgets have been paid in.
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We feel that this high collection rate is a clear indication of State support for our work in building up the verification regime.
(Inteniational Monitoring System)
6. The International Monitoring System (I MS) of 170 seismic, 60 infrasound, 11 hydroacoustic and 80 radionuclide stations supported by 16 laboratories - is being progressively established. So far, site surveys to determine the suitability of the locations for some 120 of the 321 stations specified in the Treaty have been completed. The installation of 33 stations has either been completed or is under way; the certification of several seismic monitoring stations has been initiated.
7. Up to now, US$ 57.5 million in capital investment has been budgeted for the establishment or upgrading of monitoring stations, which amount is approximately 40 per cent of the total capital investment to complete the IMS network.
The network of 170 seismological and 11 hydroacoustic stations might be 70 per cent operational at the end of 1999.
Only one infrasound station existed at a location specified in the Treaty in mid-
1997. But this network of 60 stations as well as that of the 80 radionuclide stations -many of which require upgrading to meet IMS specifications - might be 30 per cent
operational at the end of 1999.
8. All monitoring facilities will be owned and operated by the States hosting or taking responsibility for them. A State may be compensated - by an appropriate reduction in its assessed financial contribution to the Commission's budget - for costs it incurs in installing or upgrading a monitoring facility.
9. So far, two facility agreements have been concluded, with Canada and New Zealand, authorising work to be carried out for facilities on their territories. Several other agreements are close to signature. Pending conclusion of such agreements, and in order to accelerate the process of commissioning the IMS, exchanges of letters have been concluded with 35 States.
10. Further
international training programmes have been held in Japan and Kazakhstan in 1998 and one will be held in the Russian Federation this June. Technical training programmes have also been held at monitoring facilities in Argentina, Austria, Germany, Norway and the United States.
(International Data Centre)
11. The
International Data Centre (1 DC) is being progressively commissioned. In April 1999, the Centre was detecting and locating an average of over 100 events for each 24-hour period processed, using data from only 36 of the 241 seismo-acoustic stations that will eventually form part of the IMS. The evolving verification regime showed its competence, in detecting and locating events in South Asia in late May 1998, immediately after beginning test operations. The next installation of software will allow data and other products to be made available to States Signatories.
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12.
Three training programmes have been held, two at the Prototype International Data Center in Arlington, Virginia, and one at our facilities in Vienna; a fourth is being held in Vienna from this week.
13. The satellite-based global communications infrastructure (OC I), which transmits data and IDC products between the monitoring facilities, the IDC and States Signatories, is being installed. The core infrastructure is in place, with four satellite hubs in Germany, Italy and the United States, and high-speed terrestrial links between the hubs and the IDC and to the national data centres of Canada, France and the United States. Since the beginning of May, data were being transmitted directly from two Canadian monitoring stations to the IDC in Vienna.
(On-Site Inspection)
14. The basis for on-site inspection (051) procedures is being prepared. Current work includes drawing up a concept of operations, an operational manual, a list of basic equipment for use in the field, and testing, training and exercises, as well as the development of elements for an information databank, an operations support centre and an equipment storage and maintenance facility.
(Closing remarks)
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These are considerable tasks for a small organization - as at 7 May 1999, Commission staff numbered 187 from 58 countries. But with the attainment of each stage in the operationalisation of the verification regime and with the deposit of further instruments of ratification, the CTBT enhances its status as an effective instrument of arms control. All efforts to realise a credible deterrent to clandestine nuclear testing and to promote restraint on the part of those who have not yet signed the Treaty are worthwhile, as they contribute to making our planet more secure as we move towards the end of this century.
16. I should like to use this opportunity to thank you once again for giving us at the CTBTO Preparatory Commission this opportunity to update the NPT preparatory process on the substantial progress made, over the course of the past year, in our work in establishing the IMS, IDC and 051 regimes. We have informed you of the strong support,
both political - in the large number of Treaty signatures and ratification and in the participation in our work - and fiscal - in the high rate of collection of assessed contributions to the budget of the Preparatory Commission. Our budget is verification focused (83%); administrative costs (17%) are kept well under control.
17. In closing, I would ask you, distinguished representatives of States assembled here
for this Preparatory Committee meeting, to reflect yet again on the significance of the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the role to be played by the
Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization
(CTBTO Preparatory Commission), in making the world safer and more secure.
We count on your continued support for our work, in your participation at our meetings, and in moving ahead, through signature and ratification, to an early entry into force of this Treaty.
Thank you.