Technical Issues Related to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (2002)

Summary: For this report, the committee’s charge was to review the state of knowledge about the three main technical concerns raised during the Senate debate of October 1999 on ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The first concerned the capacity of the US to maintain confidence in the safety and reliability of its nuclear stockpile—and it its nuclear-weapon design and evaluation capability—in the absence of nuclear testing. The second concerned the capabilities of the international nuclear-test monitoring system. The third concerned the additions to the their nuclear-weapon capabilities that other countries could achieve through nuclear testing at yield levels that might escape detection—as well as the additions they could achieve without nuclear testing at all—and the potential effect of such additions on the security of the US.