Hannover 2003 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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AKA: Physik und Abrüstung

AKA 7: Atomteststopp

AKA 7.1: Hauptvortrag

Freitag, 28. März 2003, 11:00–12:00, M11

Will the Nuclear Testing Moratorium Hold? — •Frank N. von Hippel — Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University, Princeton NJ, USA

In 1995, the five nuclear-weapon-state parties to the Nonproliferation Treaty committed to achieve a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. The CTBT will not come into force until 44 listed states ratify. The U.S. and 12 others have not. However, none of the five states has tested since 1996. U.S. concerns include maintenance of confidence in the nuclear stockpile and that other countries might cheat. A report from the National Academy of Sciences has assessed these concerns. The Congress established its own panel, however. This panel has called for No-dqred teamsNo-dq to challenge the findings of the directors of the weapon laboratories that the warheads remain safe and reliable and has urged that the Nevada test site be prepared for testing on notice as short as 3 months.

In March 2002, the CIA briefed Congress on evidence that Russia was preparing to test. A 1997 CIA claim that Russia had tested was shown by academic seismologists to be based on an under-sea earthquake. CTBT opponents are also campaigning for No-dqearth penetratingNo-dq warheads for attacking underground bunkers. Independent physicists have pointed out that the kinetic energy of nuclear warheads could not drive them deeply enough into rock to prevent large areas of lethal radioactive fallout.