Statement by Robert Floyd, Executive Secretary of the CTBTO

In response to media enquiries, Robert Floyd, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), issued the following statement today: 

 

”The CTBTO’s International Monitoring System (IMS) is capable of detecting nuclear test explosions with a yield equivalent to or greater than approximately 500 tonnes of TNT, including detecting all six tests conducted and declared by the DPRK. Below 500 tonnes is roughly 3 percent of the yield of the explosion that devastated Hiroshima. 

 

Mechanisms which could address smaller explosions are provided by the Treaty but can only be used once the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty enters into force. That is why it is important that the nuclear arms control framework includes the entry into force of the CTBT.  The need is more urgent now than ever.

 

Regarding reports of possible nuclear tests with yields in the hundreds of tonnes, on 22 June 2020, the CTBTO’s IMS did not detect any event consistent with the characteristics of a nuclear weapon test explosion at that time. Subsequent, more detailed analyses have not altered that determination. 

 

Any nuclear test explosion, by any state, is of deepest concern.”

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) bans all nuclear explosions everywhere, by everyone, and for all time. Adherence to the Treaty is nearly universal, with 187 signatories and 178 ratifying States. To enter into force, the Treaty must be ratified by all 44 States listed in its Annex 2, for which nine ratifications are still required. 

 

The CTBTO has established an International Monitoring System (IMS) to ensure that no nuclear test explosion goes undetected. Currently, 307 certified facilities - of a total of 337 when complete - are operating around the world, using four main technologies: seismic, hydroacoustic, infrasound and radionuclide. 

 

The data collected by the IMS has also been used for disaster mitigation such as earthquake monitoring and tsunami warning, as well as research into fields as diverse as whale migration, climate change and the prediction of monsoon rains.  

 

You can learn more about the Treaty and the Organization at www.ctbto.org and @CTBTO on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn.