CHEATERS BEWARE

摘要

Some argue that a nuclear test ban is not verifiable. Meanwhile the treaty's monitoring system of 321 stations, now well on the way to completion, is looking good. For almost three years, representatives from more than 40 nations met in a cavernous chamber of the little-known Palais des Nations in Geneva, negotiating the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). They labored over membership obligations, rules for entry into force and compliance, and the politically sensitive question of verification. The Group of Scientific Experts, which had spent 17 years considering the technical issues that would be involved in verifying a nuclear test ban, however, was able to provide the necessary expertise for the design of a modern, comprehensive monitoring system based on experience in seismic monitoring. This was supplemented by expert work in ra-dionuclide, infrasound, and hy-droacoustic monitoring. The result is an unprecedented verification regime that provides information that no single country can collect on its own. It is designed to provide the international community with a high degree of confidence that clandestine nuclear explosions will be detected.