Verifying a comprehensive test ban

Journal Article · Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1990 · Arms Control Today; (USA)

OSTI ID:5842831

van der Vink, G E

Verification can never be accomplished with 100% certainty. Decisions about verification therefore involve judgments about acceptable levels of risk. Such judgments, in turn, can only be made by weighing the potential costs of undetected cheating against the expected benefits of a proposed treaty. Given the recent changes in the international political climate and shifts in the focus of US security concerns, the scale that balances these arguments may now be tipping in favor of a comprehensive test ban (CTB). In this new security environment, the potential advantages cited by CTB advocates - strengthening the nuclear nonproliferation regime, limiting the development of destabilizing new weapons, stopping the remaining environmental hazards of underground testing, and providing a first step toward nuclear disarmament - appear ever more important. Meanwhile, the disadvantages critics warn of - the uncertainties of verification, the need for testing to develop new weapons, and the alleged difficulties of maintaining high weapons reliability without testing - seem less compelling.

• OSTI ID: 5842831
• Journal Information: Arms Control Today; (USA), Vol. 20:9; ISSN 0196-125X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
ARMS CONTROL
NON-PROLIFERATION POLICY
VERIFICATION
NUCLEAR EXPLOSION DETECTION
POLITICAL ASPECTS
SECURITY
DETECTION
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
450300* - Military Technology
Weaponry
& National Defense- Nuclear Explosion Detection
350300 - Arms Control- Verification- (1987-)