Test ban compliance: is seismology enough

Journal Article · Fri Apr 24 00:00:00 EDT 1987 · Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States)

OSTI ID:5621519

The treaties under debate were signed more than a decade ago: the Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT) by President Nixon in 1974 and the Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty (PNET) by President Ford in 1976. Between them, they prohibit all underground nuclear blasts with an explosive yield greater than 150 kilotons. When negotiated, verification of the testing agreements was entrusted to seismology, but the remote seismic techniques they must rely on today to monitor Soviet nuclear tests, do not provide yield estimates with the accuracy required for effective verifications of compliance. The alternative seized upon was hydrodynamics. The US technique is called CORRTEX, a mercifully terse acronym for Continuous Reflectometry for Radius versus Time Experiments. A cable connected to a suitcase-sized electrical unit and a microcomputer is buried in a deep satellite hole roughly 50 feet away from the emplacement hole holding the nuclear device. The rate at which the CORRTEX cable is crushed and short-circuited by the shock wave generated by the exploding device provides the yield estimate. The paper compares the accuracy and constraints of both methods, and discusses the Soviet reaction to CORRTEX.

• OSTI ID: 5621519
• Journal Information: Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Vol. 236
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
HYDRODYNAMICS
ACCURACY
SEISMOLOGY
TREATIES
VERIFICATION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPLIANCE
CONSTRAINTS
NUCLEAR EXPLOSION DETECTION
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
UNDERGROUND EXPLOSIONS
USA
USSR
ASIA
DETECTION
EASTERN EUROPE
EUROPE
EXPLOSIONS
FLUID MECHANICS
MECHANICS
NORTH AMERICA
350000* - Arms Control- (1987-)
450300 - Military Technology
Weaponry
& National Defense- Nuclear Explosion Detection