Monitoring Technologies

Abstract

The development and testing of nuclear weapons was paralleled by the development and implementation of monitoring techniques and technologies. The purpose was initially intelligence gathering, and during the period of atmospheric testing a lot of information could be obtained from the analysis of radioactive fallout. Systems were also established in some countries to detect a nuclear weapons attack. In the first chapter we have given the background to nuclear testing, nuclear weapons and international treaties related to such weapons. The purpose of this chapter is to give a corresponding background to the methods and techniques that have been developed over the years to monitor nuclear testing and that eventually became part of the verification regime of the CTBT. In giving this background we will make some references to the International Monitoring System (IMS), which is a key part of the CTBT verification regime and which is discussed from different perspectives in Chapters 4, 6 and 7.