Editing Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (section)

==Implementation==
===Provisions===
The treaty declares as its "principal aim the speediest possible achievement of an agreement on general and complete disarmament under strict international control" and explicitly states the goal of achieving a comprehensive test ban (one that bans underground tests). The treaty permanently forbids the parties to the treaty from conducting, permitting, or encouraging any nuclear explosion in the atmosphere, outer space, or underwater as well as "any other nuclear explosion" that threatens to send nuclear debris into another state's territory.<ref name=unoda>{{cite web |title=Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water |publisher=[[United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs]] |access-date=11 August 2016 |url=http://disarmament.un.org/treaties/t/test_ban/text}}</ref> The wording "any other nuclear explosion" prohibited peaceful nuclear explosions because of the difficulty in differentiating those from military tests without expanded verification measures.<ref name=statedept/>

According to the compromise reached by U.S. delegates [[Adrian S. Fisher]] and John McNaughton in Moscow, Article 3 of the treaty permits states to deposit instruments of ratification or accession with the governments of the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, or the United States. This arrangement effectively avoids the issue of the treaty appearing to legitimize governments that lack universal recognition.{{sfn|Schlesinger|2002|pp=907–908}} Article 4 embodies the compromise reached by [[Gromyko]] and [[W. Averell Harriman|Harriman]] in Moscow regarding withdrawal from the treaty. It acknowledges the sovereign right of states to withdraw, as emphasized by [[Khrushchev]], while also explicitly granting parties the right to withdraw if "extraordinary events... have jeopardized the supreme interests of its country," in accordance with the demands of the United States.{{sfn|Schlesinger|2002|pp=906–907}}<ref name=unoda/>

===Signatories===
{{Main|List of parties to the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty}}

By 15 April 1964, six months after the PTBT went into effect, more than 100 states had joined the treaty as signatories and 39 had ratified or acceded to it.<ref name=cq>{{cite web |title=Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Ratified |work=CQ Almanac |publisher=[[Congressional Quarterly]] |url=https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal63-1317011#H2_1 |date=1964 |access-date=11 August 2016}}</ref> The most recent party to the PTBT is [[Montenegro]], which succeeded to the treaty in 2006.<ref name=unoda/> {{As of|2015}}, 126 states were party to the treaty, with 10 other states having signed but not deposited instruments of ratification. There are 60 states that have not signed the PTBT, including the nuclear states of China, France, and [[North Korea]].<ref name=siglist>{{cite web |title=Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty & Partial Test Ban Treaty Membership |url=http://www.nti.org/media/pdfs/apmctbt_10.pdf |publisher=Nuclear Threat Initiative |access-date=11 August 2016 |date=8 June 2015}}</ref> [[Albania]], an ideological ally of China during the PTBT's enactment, also has not signed.{{sfn|Jacobson|Stein|1966|p=464}}<ref name=siglist/>

===Effectiveness===
[[File:Radiocarbon bomb spike.svg|thumb|300px|right|[[Bomb pulse]] atmospheric [[carbon-14]] (<sup>14</sup>C) in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. Atmospheric testing almost doubled the concentration of <sup>14</sup>C in the Northern Hemisphere.<ref name=radiocarbon>{{cite web |title=Radiocarbon Dating |publisher=[[Utrecht University]] |url=http://web.science.uu.nl/AMS/Radiocarbon.htm |access-date=31 July 2016}}</ref>]]

The ratification of the [[PTBT]] coincided with a significant decline in the levels of radioactive particles in the atmosphere, following the "bomb spike" of the early 1960s. However, it did not effectively stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons.<ref name=atomicheritage/><ref name=radiocarbon/>{{sfn|Burns|Siracusa|2013|p=532}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Ending Nuclear Testing |publisher=United Nations |url=https://www.un.org/en/events/againstnucleartestsday/history.shtml |access-date=12 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Technical Details: The Bomb Spike |publisher=[[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]] |url=https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/outreach/isotopes/bombspike.html |access-date=12 August 2016}}</ref> One year after the PTBT's entry into force, the nonsignatory China conducted the [[Project 596|596 test]] and became the world's fifth nuclear power.<ref>{{cite web |title=16 October 1964 – First Chinese Nuclear Test |url=https://www.ctbto.org/specials/testing-times/16-october-1964-first-chinese-nuclear-test |publisher=CTBTO Preparatory Commission |access-date=3 August 2016}}</ref> Since China, [[list of states with nuclear weapons|four other states]] are known or believed to have acquired nuclear weapons. However, the PTBT has been credited with slowing proliferation because of the greater expense associated with underground tests.{{sfn|Rhodes|2008|p=72}} Kennedy had warned in 1963 that without a test ban, there could be 10 nuclear states by 1970 and 15 to 20 by 1975.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Test Ban Treaty |last=Delcoigne |first=G.C. |publisher=[[IAEA]] |url=https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/publications/magazines/bulletin/bull15-4/15403500322.pdf |page=8 |access-date=11 August 2016}}</ref>

The decade following ratification of the PTBT (1963–1972) featured more US nuclear tests than the decade prior (1953–1962). In the following decade, the US conducted 385 nuclear tests and 23 peaceful nuclear explosions (PNEs), as opposed to 268 tests and three PNEs in the prior decade. In contrast, the number of Soviet detonations fell from 218 in the preceding decade to 157 in the following decade, as the Soviet Union was never able to meet the pace of US underground explosions.{{sfn|Evangelista|1999|pp=85–86}} China and France, both nonsignatories, conducted 53 tests between 1963 and 1973. In all, 436 tests were conducted between the signing of the PTBT and 1 July 1973, compared to 499 tests between 16 July 1945 and the signing of the PTBT.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Test Ban Treaty |last=Delcoigne |first=G.C. |publisher=IAEA |page=18 |url=https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/publications/magazines/bulletin/bull15-4/15403500322.pdf |access-date=11 August 2016}}</ref> In the 1960s and the 1970s, China conducted 22 atmospheric tests and France conducted 50.<ref name=nsarchive/> The last atmospheric test was conducted by China in 1980, after French atmospheric testing stopped in 1974.<ref name=faschron/><ref name=nsa2/> Public opposition to nuclear testing continued after the treaty's enactment. [[Greenpeace]] was founded in 1971 in opposition to a planned underground test on the [[Alaska]]n island of [[Amchitka]]. In 1982, a Greenpeace ship docked at [[Leningrad]] without permission to demand the Soviet Union to stop testing.{{sfn|Evangelista|1999|pp=168–170}}

The PTBT was a first of a series of nuclear arms control treaties in the second half of 20th century. The PTBT has been considered the stepping stone to the [[Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons]] (NPT) of 1968, which explicitly referred to the progress provided by the PTBT.<ref name=faschron/> In addition to the NPT, the PTBT was followed within ten years by the [[Outer Space Treaty]] and [[Treaty of Tlatelolco]] in 1967, the [[Seabed Arms Control Treaty]] in 1971, and the [[Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty]] in 1972.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Test Ban Treaty |last=Delcoigne |first=G.C. |publisher=IAEA |pages=8, 18 |url=https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/publications/magazines/bulletin/bull15-4/15403500322.pdf |access-date=11 August 2016}}</ref> In 1974, the [[Threshold Test Ban Treaty]] prohibited underground tests with yields above 150 kilotons.<ref name=nsa2/><ref>{{cite web |title=The Flawed Test Ban Treaty |publisher=[[The Heritage Foundation]] |date=27 March 1984 |url=https://www.heritage.org/defense/report/the-flawed-test-ban-treaty |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801080608/http://www.heritage.org/defense/report/the-flawed-test-ban-treaty |url-status=unfit |archive-date=1 August 2017 |access-date=12 August 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Operation Dominic Starfish-Prime nuclear test from plane.jpg|thumb|Image of [[Starfish Prime]] nuclear test in space (1962). Such tests in space and [[high-altitude nuclear explosion|high-altitudes]] stopped completely with the treaty.]]

In October 1977, the original parties to the [[PTBT]] renewed discussions about establishing a comprehensive test ban in Geneva. By the end of the 1970s, the US, the UK, and the Soviet Union reached an agreement on draft provisions that would prohibit all testing, temporarily ban peaceful nuclear explosions (PNEs), and establish a verification system that included on-site inspections. However, the parties remained divided over the specific details of the verification process, and the talks ultimately came to a halt with the departure of President [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1981.
<ref name=faschron/>

Momentum towards a comprehensive ban re-emerged under [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] and President [[Ronald Reagan]], with Gorbachev initiating a testing moratorium in 1985. In December 1986, the US indicated support for the "long-term objective" of a comprehensive ban, followed by the commencement of testing negotiations between the US and Soviet Union in November 1987. In December 1987, the US and the Soviet Union agreed to a joint program of experiments on detecting underground tests.<ref name=faschron/><ref>{{cite news |title=In Remotest Nevada, a Joint U.S. and Soviet Test |last=Blakeslee |first=Sandra |date=18 August 1988 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/18/world/in-remotest-nevada-a-joint-us-and-soviet-test.html |access-date=11 August 2016}}</ref> In August 1988, [[Indonesia]], [[Mexico]], [[Peru]], [[Sri Lanka]], [[Venezuela]], and [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] petitioned to transform the PTBT into a comprehensive ban by extending the treaty to underground tests. At a conference on the plan in January 1991, the US indicated that it would not permit efforts to achieve a comprehensive ban by consensus with amendments to the PTBT.<ref name=statedept/>

Throughout the 1990s, progress accelerated towards a comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT). Following a series of international meetings on the subject, the [[UN General Assembly]] approved Resolution 50/64, which appealed for states to follow the PTBT and called for conclusion of the CTBT talks. In September 1996, the [[Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty]] was signed and superseded the PTBT, but the PTBT is still in effect for states not party to the CTBT.<ref name=nti/> The CTBT has yet to enter into force, as 8 required states have not ratified the treaty, including the US and China. France, Russia, and the UK have ratified the CTBT.<ref name=nti2>{{cite news |title=Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) |newspaper=Nuclear Threat Initiative |url=https://www.nti.org/learn/treaties-and-regimes/comprehensive-nuclear-test-ban-treaty-ctbt/ |date=8 June 2015 |access-date=12 August 2016}}</ref> The technology for detecting underground tests has significantly improved since the 1950s and 1960s, with monitors detecting tests down to 1 kiloton with a high degree of confidence.<ref name=nsarchive/>

====Violations and accidents====
Early compliance with the PTBT was believed to be good,<ref>{{cite web |title=The Test Ban Treaty |last=Delcoigne |first=G.C. |publisher=IAEA |page=17 |url=https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/publications/magazines/bulletin/bull15-4/15403500322.pdf |access-date=11 August 2016}}</ref> but there have been a number of accidental releases of nuclear debris into the atmosphere by parties to the treaty. Additionally, "venting" of underground tests by the US and the Soviet Union also continued to release radioactive debris into the atmosphere.<ref name=nsa2/> Fully contained underground tests were not wholly "clean" either. Underground testing reduced the risk caused by [[radionuclide]]s with short [[half-life|half-lives]], such as [[iodine-131]], and is generally safer than other forms of testing. However, underground testing may also cause long-lived radionuclides, including [[caesium-135]], [[iodine-129]], and [[plutonium]], to seep into the ground.<ref>{{cite web |title=General Overview of the Effects of Nuclear Testing |publisher=CTBTO Preparatory Commission |url=https://www.ctbto.org/nuclear-testing/the-effects-of-nuclear-testing/general-overview-of-theeffects-of-nuclear-testing/ |access-date=12 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite report |title=Report on the Health Consequences to the American Population from Nuclear Weapons Tests Conducted by the United States and Other Nations |chapter=Fallout from Nuclear Weapons |publisher=[[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] |date=May 2005 |pages=20–21 |chapter-url=https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/fallout/}}</ref>

A notable atmospheric release of radioactive gas followed the Soviet [[Chagan (nuclear test)|Chagan test]] of 15 January 1965 in present-day [[Kazakhstan]]. Roughly 20% of the radioactive debris produced by the 140-kiloton detonation was released into the atmosphere, with some fallout occurring over Japan.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ctbto.org/nuclear-testing/the-effects-of-nuclear-testing/the-soviet-unionsnuclear-testing-programme/page-3-effects-of-nuclear-weapon-testing-by-the-soviet-union/ |title=Page 3: Effects of Nuclear Weapon Testing by the Soviet Union |publisher=CTBTO Preparatory Commission |access-date=12 August 2016 |archive-date=7 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307205729/https://www.ctbto.org/nuclear-testing/the-effects-of-nuclear-testing/the-soviet-unionsnuclear-testing-programme/page-3-effects-of-nuclear-weapon-testing-by-the-soviet-union/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The US complained to Moscow, but no subsequent action was taken.{{Citation needed|date=September 2016}} On 25 April 1966, the ''Pin Stripe'' underground test in Nevada (part of [[Operation Flintlock (nuclear test)|Operation Flintlock]]) experienced a venting malfunction and produced a radioactive plume headed towards the [[Midwestern United States]]; the AEC determined that the test did not threaten human health.<ref name=nsa2/>

Another accidental release occurred following the [[Baneberry Nuclear Test|Baneberry]] shot at the [[Nevada Test Site]] on 18 December 1970 (part of [[Operation Emery]]). The 10-kiloton underground detonation created a fissure in the ground, allowing radioactive gas to escape into the atmosphere.<ref name=bane2>{{cite web |title=Three-dimensional Simulation of the Baneberry Nuclear Event |publisher=[[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]] |last=Antoun |first=Tarabay H. |url=https://asc.llnl.gov/news/news_archive/baneberry.pdf |access-date=12 August 2016 |archive-date=27 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527170837/https://asc.llnl.gov/news/news_archive/baneberry.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Radioactive material released by the fissure reached an altitude of {{convert|10,000|ft|m|sp=us}} and exposed 86 workers to radiation but none at excessive levels.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nuclear Testing at the Nevada Test Site |publisher=[[Brookings Institution]] |date=August 1998 |url=http://www.brookings.edu/projects/archive/nucweapons/nts.aspx |access-date=12 August 2016 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081110112057/http://www.brookings.edu/projects/archive/nucweapons/nts.aspx |archive-date=10 November 2008}}</ref> The incident has since been described as one of the "world's worst nuclear disasters."<ref name=bane>{{cite magazine |title=The Worst Nuclear Disasters – Photo Gallery  |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=https://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1887705_1862274,00.html |access-date=31 July 2016}}</ref>

Declassified US documents indicate that the US may have violated the PTBT's ban on atmospheric testing in 1972 by, at the instruction of [[Henry Kissinger]], monitoring and collecting data on French atmospheric tests over the Pacific Ocean, which may have amounted to co-operation with the French program. Declassified documents also indicate that the US and the UK circumvented the prescribed verification system in 1964–65 by establishing a series of additional control posts in [[Australia]], [[Fiji]], [[Mauritius]], [[Pakistan]], and [[South Africa]].<ref name=nsa2>{{cite web |title=The Limited Test Ban Treaty – 50 Years Later: New Documents Throw Light on Accord Banning Atmospheric Nuclear Testing |last=Burr |first=William |publisher=National Security Archive |date=2 August 2013 |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb433/ |access-date=12 August 2016}}</ref>

The 1979 [[Vela incident]] in the southern Atlantic may have been an atmospheric nuclear test in contravention of the PTBT by [[Israel]] and South Africa, both of which were parties to the treaty.<ref name=velanyt>{{cite news |title=The Hidden Travels of The Bomb |last=Broad |first=William J. |work=The New York Times |date=8 December 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/science/09bomb.html?_r=0 |access-date=11 August 2016}}</ref><ref name=velabulletin>{{cite web |title=Flash from the past: Why an apparent Israeli nuclear test in 1979 matters today |last=Weiss |first=Leonard |work=[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]] |date=8 September 2015 |access-date=11 August 2016 |url=https://thebulletin.org/2015/09/flash-from-the-past-why-an-apparent-israeli-nuclear-test-in-1979-matters-today/}}</ref>

On 8 January 1988, Colonel [[Chang Hsien-yi]], Deputy director of [[National Atomic Research Institute]] (NARI) of [[Republic of China]] defected to the United States, and revealed its progress of nuclear weapon development, followed by the sudden death of President [[Chiang Ching-kuo]] on 13 January. On 20 January, David Ding, Director of [[Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office]] of [[American Institute in Taiwan|Taipei Representative Office]], met General [[Hau Pei-tsun]], [[Chief of the General Staff (Republic of China)|Chief of the General Staff]] of [[Republic of China Armed Forces]] in [[Taipei]], and presented the U.S. [[reconnaissance satellite]] images showing a minimized nuclear explosion at the test field of NARI [[:zh:國家中山科學研究院九鵬院區|Jiupeng base]] in 1986;<ref>Director David Dean questioned General Hau Pei-Tsun with the US satellite imagery detecting a minimized nuclear explosion, and Hao replied that, after nearly 20 years of research, ROC military scientist have successfully produced a controlled nuclear test. Hau recorded his statement in the diary and published on Issue 1 in 2000, which was removed from the later issues, along with other cases of classified information." {{cite book |last=Hau |first=Pei-tsun |author-link=Hau Pei-tsun |title=Ba nian can mou zong zhang ri ji |trans-title=8-year Diary of the Chief of the General Staff (1981–1989) |url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL13062852M/Ba_nian_can_mou_zong_zhang_ri_ji_(She_hui_ren_wen)#about/about |publisher=[[:zh:天下文化|Commonwealth Publishing]] |date=1 January 2000 |access-date=11 February 2025 |issue=1 |isbn=9576216389 |language=zh-TW |location=Taipei, Taiwan|ol=13062852M }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Chen |first=Wei-ting |date=21 February 2016 |title=電文解密{{nbsp}}... 1970年代 美阻我兩波核武發展 |trans-title=Telegram Decryption{{nbsp}}... US Blocked 2 Tides of Nuclear Weapon Development in 1970s |url=http://udn.com/news/story/9492/1515007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506011809/http://udn.com/news/story/9492/1515007 |archive-date=6 May 2016 |access-date=11 February 2025 |newspaper=[[United Daily News]] |language=zh-TW |location=Taipei, Taiwan}}</ref> then demanded to respect the agreement of President [[Ronald Reagan]] and the new president [[Lee Teng-hui]] to terminate Taiwan's nuclear weapons development plan and to return 699 nuclear fuel rods back to the United States. Under the supervision of [[International Atomic Energy Agency]] and U.S. officials, classified data were confiscated, and the [[nuclear reactor]] was sealed. Following that six hydrogen material explosions and a heavy fire occurred later, it eventually took three years to complete the rods' transportation.<ref>{{cite news |title=桃園6度氫爆 洩輻射 核研所承認26年前意外 當地人不知情 |trans-title=Six hydrogen material explosion occurred with radiation leaks in Taoyuan, National Atomic Research Institute admits the accident 26 years ago, as the local residents were unaware |newspaper=[[Apple Daily (Taiwan)]] |url=http://www.appledaily.com.tw/appledaily/article/headline/20140423/35784041/ |language=zh-tw |date=23 April 2014 |access-date=11 March 2025 |location=[[Taipei]], Taiwan |archive-date=8 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208060110/http://www.appledaily.com.tw/appledaily/article/headline/20140423/35784041/ |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Huang |first1=Chi-dong |last2=Chen |first2=Rou-an |last3=Huang |first3=Chung-jing | publisher=[[EBC News]] |via=ETtoday News |title=台灣核彈差一步 上校副所長張憲義叛逃引發6次氫爆 |trans-title=Taiwan was one step away from nuclear bombs; the defection of Deputy Director, Colonel Chang Xianyi, lead to six hydrogen material explosions |url=http://www.ettoday.net/news/20140424/349722.htm |date=24 April 2014 |access-date=11 March 2025 |language=zh-tw |location=[[Taoyuan, Taiwan]] |archive-date=14 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614003322/http://www.ettoday.net/news/20140424/349722.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>