CTBTO certifies additional
International Monitoring System
Stations

Twelve additional International Monitoring System (IMS) stations have been certified during the past month, bringing the total to 46. A certified station meets all the requirements necessary to become a recognized part of the IMS. This includes meeting all of the technical specifications established by the Commission, ensuring that data are tamper-proof and authenticated, and that data are sent in an uninterrupted stream to the International Data Centre in Vienna. When complete, the IMS network will consist of 321 monitoring stations and 16 radionuclide laboratories that monitor the earth for evidence of nuclear test explosions. Three of these newly certified stations are primary seismic, six are auxiliary seismic, two are infrasound and one is radionuclide. All of the seismic stations, PS4 in Australia, PS19 in Germany, PS45 in Ukraine, AS26 in the Czech Republic, AS57 in Kazakhstan, AS69 and AS71 in New Zealand, AS80 in Philippines and AS101 in Sweden, were existing stations for earthquake monitoring or nuclear test monitoring prior to being selected for the IMS during the CTBT negotiations in Geneva. The Czech, New Zealand and Philippines stations were part of national earthquake monitoring networks; the German and Swedish stations were devoted to research on nuclear test monitoring; and the Ukraine and Kazakhstan stations were part of the former Soviet Union?s nuclear test monitoring network. All have been upgraded to meet the Commission?s technical specifications. The two infrasound stations, IS17 in Cote d?Ivoire and IS34 in Mongolia, are new, and they join the eight previously certified infrasound stations in the new network of 60 stations being built to monitor the atmosphere for nuclear test explosions. These two stations were built by the Atomic Energy Commission of France under a system of "reduced assessment", a system whereby national funding is used to build the stations and the costs are deducted from the State?s assessed financial contribution to the Commission in the year following the year in which the stations are certified. The radionuclide station, RN75 in the United States, was also established under the system of reduced assessment. It becomes the eleventh radionuclide station to be certified.

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