The Thorny Road to a Nuclear Test Ban

1 Letter of the Prime Minister of India to the UN Secretary-General, 8 April 1954. UN document DC/44 and Corr. 1.

2 For texts and detailed analyses of these bans, see J. Goldblat, Arms Control: A Guide to Negotiations and Agreements (London: SAGE 1994).

3 US Department of State Bulletin, 22 September 1958.

4 Conference on Disarmament documents CD/1346, 6 September 1995; CD/ 1346/ Add.1, 19 September 1995.

5 Dozens of such experiments were made in the United States during the 1958-61 nuclear testing moratorium. They were not considered by the US Administration to be nuclear explosion tests, because the explosive yield due to fission energy release was less than the explosive energy of the high explosive.

6 Nuclear Testing, JASON, the MITRE Corporation, JSR-320, Mc Lean, VA, 4 August 1995.

7 F.v. Hippel, `A Pentagon Arms Plan Goes France One Better', International Herald Tribune, 29-30 July 1995.

8 Speaking on 29 June 1995 at the Conference on Disarmament, on behalf of the so-called Group of 21 (nonaligned countries), the Ambassador of India referred to reports about discussions among the nuclear-weapon states on a threshold for a test ban and stated that to permit testing below a threshold, by using any technique, would defeat the purpose of the CTBT. (Conference on Disarmament document CD/1329.)

9 Conference on Disarmament document CD/NTB/WP.244. This formula is based on the language developed by the National Resources Defense Council in The Role of Hydronuclear Tests and Other Low-Yield Nuclear Explosions and Their Status under a Comprehensive Test Ban, NRDC, Washington DC, March 1995.

10 Conference on Disarmament document CD/NTB/WP.243.

11 US Department of Energy, The National Ignition Facility (NIF) and the Issue of Nonproliferation, Draft Study, 25 August 1995.

12 See J. Rotblat, `Societal Verification' in J. Rotblat, J. Steinberger & B. Udgaonkar (eds), A Nuclear-Weapon-Free World (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1993).

13 Conference on Disarmament document CD/PV. 713.

14 Conference on Disarmament paper CD/NTB/WP. 222.

15 Conference on Disarmament document CD/PV. 714.

16 Conference on Disarmament document CD/1340.

17 ACDA Press Release, 11 August 1995.

18 Possible options are discussed in Kim Tay, Test Ban Verification Matters, Entry into Force (London: Vertic, 1994).

19 The White House Office of the Press Secretary, Fact Sheet, 11 August 1995.

20 Le Monde, 12 August 1995.

21 For the most recent progress report of this Group, see Conference on Disarmament document CD/1341.

22 Statement by the Representative of Belgium at the Conference on Disarmament, 24 August 1995.

23 Statement by the Representative of China at the Conference on Disarmament, 5 September 1995.

24 The Decision is included in the NPT Review and Extension Conference document NPT/CONF.1995/32 (Part II).

25 International Herald Tribune, 9 August 1995. The 1973 proceedings were instituted in the International Court of Justice by both Australia and New Zealand. Australia asked the Court to adjudge and declare that the carrying out of further atmospheric nuclear weapon tests in the South Pacific Ocean was not consistent with applicable rules of international law, and to order that the French Republic should not carry out any further such tests. New Zealand's request was more restrictive: the Court was asked to adjudge and declare that the conduct by the French Government of nuclear tests in the South Pacific region that give rise to radioactive fall-out constitutes a violation of New Zealand's rights under international law, and that these rights would be violated by any further such tests. For an analysis of this case, see J. Goldblat, French Nuclear Tests in the Atmosphere: the Question of Legality (Stockholm: SIPRI 1974). The case lapsed when France announced that it would limit itself to underground testing.

26 Independent, 23 September 1995. PPNN Newsbrief, 3rd Quarter 1995.