Disarmament Diplomacy

Issue No. 55, March 2001

Divided US Assessment of Russian Subcritical Tests Reported

On March 4, the New York Times reported "bitter divisions" in the US intelligence community over Russia's programme of subcritical nuclear tests. Such tests, in which no nuclear chain reaction occurs, are not prohibited by the CTBT, and are routinely conducted by both Russia and the US. However, according to the Times report, a number of US officials have "concluded" that Russia is using its subcritical programme to obscure illegal hydronuclear detonations, in which very small releases of nuclear energy occur. Quoted in the article, Nikolai P. Voloshin, head of the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry's department in charge of nuclear weapons testing and development, insisted: "We are not violating the [Comprehensive Test Ban] treaty, absolutely [not]". Backing this assertion, Frank von Hippel of Princeton University, a nuclear physicist and advisor to the Clinton administration on nuclear testing issues, was quoted as saying he believed there was no evidence "that would prove that the Russian activities are any different from those that the US conducts at the Nevada test site."

Note: on March 2, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement lauding the ongoing work of the Russian-American Working Group for Scientific and Technical Cooperation in the Field of Monitoring and Control of the CTBT. The statement observed: "Several days ago a regular meeting of the [Working Group]...was held in Vienna. Such cooperation has been maintained since the middle of 1996 (the first meeting of experts was held in June 1996 in Moscow). ... Taking part in this meeting from the Russian side were the representatives of the Ministries of Atomic Energy, Foreign Affairs and Defence, and from the American [side] the representatives of the Departments of State, Energy and Defense. The sides examined the progress in, and concrete results of the implementation of, their joint projects for scientific and technical support of the development of the means and methods of spot inspections, and for the calibration of the International Monitoring System, and confidence-building measures in carrying out large-scale blastings of chemical explosives. The participants of the meeting positively assessed the experience of the two simulation trainings in spot inspections carried out on the basis of Russia's Federal Nuclear Centre in Snezhinsk. They also noted the importance of placing the accumulated experience on this question at the disposal of the Preparatory Commission for the CTBT Organization. Positively assessing Russian-American cooperation within the Working Group, the Russian side at the same time stresses the importance of an early ratification by the United States of the CTBT..."

Reports: Russian-American Cooperation in the Field of Verification of the Observance of the CTBT, Russian Foreign Ministry Statement, Document 347-02-03-2001, March 2; Dispute on Russian tests divides nuclear experts, New York Times, March 4.