Spain ratifies the CTBT

Spain deposited its instrument of ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 31 July 1998. Spain is the seventeenth signatory State to have ratified the Treaty and the ninth of the 44 countries listed in the Treaty whose ratification is necessary for entry into force to have done so. The Treaty will enter into force 180 days after it has been signed and ratified by the 44 States that formally participated in the work of the 1996 session of the Conference on Disarmament and that possess nuclear power and research reactors, as listed in the Treaty. The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization is carrying out the necessary preparations for the effective implementation of the Treaty. The Commission is establishing the global verification regime foreseen in the Treaty, including a global monitoring system consisting of 321 stations (170 seismic, 80 radionuclide, 60 infrasound and 11 hydroacoustic) that will be capable of registering shock waves emanating from a nuclear explosion underground, in the seas and in the air, as well as detecting the radioactive particles released into the atmosphere. The stations will transmit, via satellite, data collected from the four complementary technologies to the International Data Centre in Vienna, where it will be processed and distributed to the signatory States. The 16 other States that have ratified the Treaty are: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Czech Republic, Fiji, France, Japan, Micronesia (Federated States of), Mongolia, Peru, Qatar, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Uzbekistan. To date, 150 States have signed the Treaty. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty bans any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion anywhere in the world. Drafted at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and adopted by the General Assembly on 10 September 1996, the Treaty was opened for signature on 24 September 1996 at the United Nations in New York.

For further information on the CTBTO, please see www.ctbto.org or contact:
Annika Thunborg, Chief, Public Information  
T    +43 1 26030-6375  
E    annika.thunborg@ctbto.org
M    +43 699 1459 6375       
I    www.ctbto.org