Ninth on-site inspection workshop held in Hiroshima, Japan
The ninth on-site inspection (OSI) workshop took place in Hiroshima, Japan, from 30 June to 4 July. The workshop was organized by the Provisional Technical Secretariat, and hosted in Hiroshima at the invitation of the Mayor of Hiroshima City, Dr Tadatoshi Akiba.
Dr Haruhiro Fukui, President of the Hiroshima Peace Institute, delivered the opening address to the workshop, and the Executive Secretary of the CTBTO Preparatory Commission, Mr Wolfgang Hoffmann, made the closing remarks.
The workshop focused on three major items:
- Results and lessons of the 2002 OSI Field Experiment in Kazakhstan
The experiment covered most of the inspection activities during the initial period of an on-site inspection in an area of more than 500 km2. The Hiroshima workshop provided participants with an opportunity for the systematic analysis of the lessons and experiences obtained from the Kazakhstan experiment, such as visual observations, seismic monitoring and radionuclide sampling. The experience and analysis will benefit future OSI activities. - The elaboration process of the OSI Operational Manual
Participants concentrated on confidentiality and other related issues. - The development and testing of OSI equipment
This covered a broad spectrum of issues, such as the result of field demonstrations of geophysical equipment for shallow anomalies, techniques related to sampling and detection of radioactive noble gases, and software for seismic analysis.