UNITED NATIONS, Aug 30 (IPS) – In 2009 the United Nations General Assembly declared August 29 as the International Day Against Nuclear Tests. The day commemorates the official closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in present-day Kazakhstan on 29 August 1991; that one place alone saw 456 nuclear explosions between 1949 and 1989.
Between 1954 and 1984 there was at least one nuclear test somewhere in the world every week, most of which were far more explosive than the Hiroshima bombing; nuclear weapons that explode in the air, on and under the ground and at sea.
The radioactivity from this test explosion spread throughout the world deep into the environment. It can still be tracked and measured today, in elephants, corals on the Great Barrier Reef and deep sea tunnels.
Meanwhile, the stockpile of nuclear weapons has grown exponentially. In the early 1980s there were about 60,000 nuclear weapons, more powerful than the bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Public anger grew. In the 1960s it was agreed in principle that ending nuclear weapons testing would be an important brake on the development of nuclear weapons and thus promote nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
The preamble to the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty spoke boldly of achieving ‘a complete cessation of all nuclear weapons testing’. However, it took almost thirty more years and hundreds of nuclear test explosions before the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was agreed upon in 1996. This is one of the most historic agreements in the world. What a difference we have made.
Between 1945 and 1996 there were more than two thousand nuclear weapons tests. In the 28 years since 1996, there have been less than a dozen. In this century only six tests have been conducted, all by North Korea. The Treaty relies on a network of more than 300 scientific monitoring sites around the world that can quickly detect a nuclear test much smaller than the Hiroshima explosion and pinpoint its location. No country on Earth can conduct a nuclear test in secret.
The CTBT has close international support. 187 countries have signed and 178 have ratified. With ten new authorizations as of 2021, there is a global push against nuclear testing that has been renewed with enthusiasm among small states and especially elites. Despite these advantages, the current international uncertainty challenges the global trend against nuclear testing created by the CTBT.
What if we see renewed nuclear testing, or even the use of nuclear weapons in war? We could face a catastrophic breakdown of international trust and solidarity. A return to the days of unrestricted nuclear testing would leave no country safe, no society safe, no one on Earth untouched. There is always talk of learning from mistakes. This time let’s learn from success.
CTBT brings together the best in communications and the latest technology for the common good of the world. It builds transparency and trust, just when transparency and trust seem to be diminishing. On the International Day Against Nuclear Weapons Tests, a high-level meeting of the United Nations will be convened.
On this occasion, we call on all states to be open to the bold but decisive decisions needed to reach a final global agreement under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. Abolish nuclear testing forever. Enough is enough.
IPS UN Bureau
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