5. Interview with CTBTO Executive Secretary Tibor Tóth, computer centre and operation centre

1.    Interview with CTBTO Executive Secretary on the importance and the uniqueness of the CTBT verification regime, partially covered by images from the monitoring system

2.    Computer centre, where all CTBTO data are archived

3.    Operations Centre: from this centre, the CTBTO in Vienna monitors the state of health of the international monitoring stations, the communication links and the data flow to and from Vienna. As soon as a problem is reported or discovered, it is taken care of in direct contact with the station operators etc.

6. North Korea: nuclear test conducted in 2006 and how the CTBTO detected it

The CTBTO’s International Monitoring System was able to detect the North Korean nuclear test on 9 October 2006, despite its low yield and the fact that only half of the system had been established. Within minutes, we were able to provide the first set of seismic data about the location, time and magnitude of the event to our Member States.  These initial findings were later corroborated by our noble gas network, when a station in Canada – 7500 km away – picked up minute traces of the noble gas Xenon 133 two weeks after the test and exactly as we had calculated.

1.    Announcement by North Korean TV that North Korea has conducted a nuclear test (archive)

2.    UNSC debate and vote on the North Korean nuclear test

3.    Animation of seismic stations detecting the event: 22 CTBTO seismic stations detected the explosion, as far away as La Paz, Bolivia. Member States were immediately informed

4.    Interview with Lassina Zerbo, Director of the CTBTO International Data Centre on how the CTBTO detected the test

5.    Animation of noble gas finding: one noble gas station in Yellowknife, Canada picked up traces of radioactive noble gas, which is the smoking gun of a nuclear explosion; origin could be determined as North Korea

6.    Animation on-site inspection area: the seismic findings identified the area for the nuclear test; CTBTO analysts made this area even more precise through their analysis. This is particularly important since the area identified has to be small enough for an on-site inspection to take place.

7.    Interview with Tibor Tóth, CTBTO Executive Secretary, on how well the CTBT verification system performed when detecting the test