North Korea's nuke test could have positive outcome

Updated 13:32 27 May 2009 by Debora MacKenzie

The nuclear explosion set off by North Korea this week is bad news for would-be nuclear nations. The network of blast detectors intended for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which has not yet come into force, seems to have perfectly identified the explosion as a nuclear test, despite its small size.

The timing is critical. President Obama wants the US Senate to ratify the 1996 treaty, which bans all explosive nuclear tests, to demonstrate US commitment to nuclear non-proliferation ahead of crucial international meetings next year.

However, in 1998, the Senate rejected the CTBT partly over fears that countries could cheat, by claiming small covert weapons tests were earthquakes. The detection of the North Korean test raises hopes that the Senate will no longer be able to object.

North Korea's test was no secret – Pyongyang announced it shortly afterwards. But it demonstrated that the CTBT's only partly built monitoring system could alert member states to a test within 90 minutes, says Tibor Tóth, head of the CTBT secretariat in Vienna.

more: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17190-north-koreas-nuke-test-could-have-positive-outcome.html