Sweden ratifies Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

Sweden deposited its instrument of ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 2 December 1998. Sweden is the twenty-second signatory State to have ratified the Treaty. It is also the eleventh of the 44 countries listed in the Treaty - whose ratification is necessary for its entry into force - to have done so. Sweden is hosting two stations in the International Monitoring System: an auxiliary seismic station at Hagfors and a radionuclide station in Stockholm.

The seismic station is transmitting data on a voluntary basis to the International Data Centre in Vienna and a contract to install the radionuclide station has been awarded. The international monitoring system will consist of a total of 321 stations (170 seismic, 80 radionuclide supported by 16 laboratories, 60 infrasound and 11 hydroacoustic) that will be capable of registering shock waves emanating from a nuclear explosion underground, in the seas and in the air, as well as detecting radioactive particles released into the atmosphere. The stations will transmit, via satellite, the data collected from the four complementary technologies to the International Data Centre within CTBTO PrepCom in Vienna where the data will be processed and distributed to the signatory States for final analysis.

The 21 other States that have ratified the Treaty are: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Czech Republic, El Salvador, Fiji, France, Germany, Grenada, Japan, Jordan, Micronesia (Federated States of), Mongolia, Peru, Qatar, Slovakia, Spain, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Uzbekistan. To date, 151 States have signed the Treaty. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty bans any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion anywhere in the world. Drafted at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and adopted by the General Assembly on 10 September 1996, the Treaty was opened for signature on 24 September 1996 at the United Nations in New York.

For further information on the CTBTO, please see www.ctbto.org or contact: 
Annika Thunborg
Chief, Public Information   
T    +43 1 26030-6375  
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