VIENNA - The head of the body overseeing an international nuclear test-ban treaty on Tuesday lauded the plummeting number of nuclear weapon explosive tests in the 30 years since its adoption in 1996 by the United Nations as an "amazing success."
Robert Floyd, executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, said in an interview with Kyodo News that over 2,000 nuclear weapon explosive tests were conducted prior to the treaty, but they fell to "less than a dozen" after, with North Korea the only remaining state conducting such tests.
"Nuclear weapon explosive tests are almost a thing of the past," Floyd said, noting the result was a "real peace and security benefit for the whole world."
Of the five major nuclear states, the United States and China have signed but not ratified the CTBT adopted by the U.N. General Assembly, while Russia withdrew its ratification in 2023. As a result, the treaty is not yet valid.
Floyd said that it would require the United States and China "working together to ratify at the same time."
"It makes no geostrategic sense that one of them would move forward and ratify and the other one not," he said, adding that he believes Russia and other countries that have not ratified would also join them at the same time.
Floyd also stressed the importance of the organization's International Monitoring System stations designed to detect nuclear tests, having certified 308 monitoring stations and laboratories worldwide.
Information from the stations is sent to the CTBTO's International Data Center in Vienna, "So all states in the world know, if they want to test a nuclear weapon, then they can't hide," Floyd said. "I think that that is a significant disincentive for many states."
While noting that the use of artificial intelligence may make it possible to detect even smaller-scale nuclear tests in the future, Floyd stressed that conclusions will be drawn by human analysts by looking at data.
Floyd commented that Japan was a "deeply committed partner" to the organization, with the East Asian country along with others like Australia having established the "Friends of the CTBT" group in 2002. To date it has held 12 meetings in support of bringing the CTBT into force.
Floyd argued that preventing nuclear tests could serve as a deterrent to the development of new types of nuclear weapons by nuclear-armed states, and stressed that the role of the CTBTO was critical toward building a world without nuclear weapons.
