Seismological Methods for Monitoring a CTBT: The Technical Issues Arising in Early Negotiations

Abstract

The most important technical issues in monitoring a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty all became apparent between 1958, when the so-called “Conference of Experts” was convened in Geneva, and 1963, when the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) was negotiated, signed, ratified, and put into effect. The LTBT was negotiated trilaterally, between the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom; and banned nuclear testing in space, in the atmosphere, and under water. But in 1963 there was a general perception that seismological methods for monitoring underground nuclear explosions were inadequate — a perception that helped strongly to prevent the conclusion of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in this period, even though the key leaders (Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy for the US, General Secretary Khrushchev for the USSR, and Prime Minister Macmillan for the UK) apparently favored a comprehensive ban and made numerous proposals on how it might be implemented and verified.