The Marshall Islands has become the 151st state to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, according to a press release issued today (see GSN, Oct. 9).
The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization called the Oct. 28 move "highly symbolic." The United States from 1946 to 1958 conducted 67 nuclear test blasts in the atmosphere above the Marshall Islands' Bikini and Enewetak atolls.
The treaty to date has been signed by 182 nations and ratified by 151 countries. In the Pacific islands region, 12 states have signed and 10 countries have ratified the treaty. Niue, Tonga and Tuvalu have yet to join the list of signatories.
Before it can enter it to force, the treaty must be ratified by the 44 "Annex 2" countries. There are nine holdouts -- China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the United States.
A system for detecting noncompliance with the treaty is in the works. The program envisions 337 monitoring facilities that would detect atmospheric, underground or underwater nuclear tests. Nearly 250 sites are up and running and supplying information to the International Data Center in Vienna, Austria (Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization release, Nov. 13).