CIAO DATE: 08/2010
January 2010
The following report, based on a workshop convened by the EastWest Institute, is an assessment of technical advances related to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the future of the CTBT in the United States. The report highlights key changes since the Senate failed to ratify the Treaty in 1999 and offers recommendations for the Obama administration and others in advance of an anticipated 2010 Senate debate on CTBT ratification. The main assessments and conclusions to emerge from the workshop and how they relate to the prospects of future CTBT ratification are summarized below: * There was widespread—but not unanimous—agreement that the U.S. nuclear stockpile can be certified as safe, secure, and reliable without a resumption of nuclear explosion testing. This assessment is primarily based on ongoing improvements to the Department of Energy (DOE) Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP) and the enhanced understanding of nuclear weapons it has produced in the last ten years. The possible increase in the functional lifetime of U.S. nuclear weapons, as described in DOE studies of nuclear material and life extension programs and assessments of that work by outside expert groups, factors prominently in this judgment...
Resource link: The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: New Technology, New Prospects? [PDF] - 533K