CTBTO Preparatory Commission
concludes its tenth session and
adopts budget for 2000

A programme of work and budget for US$ 79.94 million for 2000 was adopted today by the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO Preparatory Commission), at its tenth session held at Vienna from 15-19 November 1999. Over half the budget (about US$ 40.22 million, 50.3%) will go towards the continued establishment or upgrading of the global network of stations for the International Monitoring System (IMS); $12.63 million (15.8%) is to be used to continue to build up the International Data Centre (IDC) at the CTBTO Preparatory Commission in Vienna; $7.34 million (9.2%) will go towards installing the global communications infrastructure to link the monitoring facilities by satellite to the IDC; $2.88 million (3.6%) will go towards developing procedures, guidelines and infrastructure to support on-site inspection, after the Treaty´s entry into force, and $894,000 (1.1%) were approved for evaluation of the verification activities. The programme of work and budget determine the pace at which the global verification regime to monitor adherence to the CTBT will be established. Other decisions In accordance with decisions taken at its first session, the Preparatory Commission agreed to extend the contract of its Executive Secretary, Wolfgang Hoffmann, for a period of 12 months, from 3 March 2000 to 2 March 2001, as well as the five directors for a two-year period to commence as each contract expires in 2000. Other recommendations related to, inter alia: IMS commissioning and the need for a systems integrated approach; exchange of meteorological data available at the IDC and meteorological products from the World Meteorological Organization; work on an initial draft of the on-site inspection (OSI) manual; and approval of a draft list of 20 radionuclides of interest for an OSI and of support equipment as a basis for procuring equipment for OSI training and testing purposes. Background The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO PrepCom) is setting up the global verification regime of the CTBT - so that it is operational when the CTBT enters into force - thus preparing for the Treaty´s entry into force. The International Monitoring System (IMS) will draw on a global network of 321 monitoring stations, spanning some 90 countries, which will be capable of recording data generated by possible nuclear explosions and other sources around the world. The network includes 50 primary and 120 auxiliary seismic stations from which data can be used to distinguish between nuclear explosions and the thousands of tremors registered annually by the system. It also includes 80 radionuclide stations to sample radioactive debris that would be released during a nuclear explosion and an additional 16 laboratories to assist in their analysis. In addition, 60 infrasound and 11 hydroacoustic stations will be able to record acoustic signals in the atmosphere or under water that might have come from a nuclear explosion. The monitoring stations will transmit, via satellite, in near real time the data to the International Data Centre (IDC), where the data will be used to detect, locate and characterize events. The IMS data and IDC products will be made available to the States signatories for final analysis. ******** Attendance The session was attended by 76 States signatories: Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Holy See, Hungary, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen and Zimbabwe. The session was also attended by the following observer: Pakistan.

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