DYB2011-Part-II-web

Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation
Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations
Development Programme and the United Nations Office for Disarmament
Affairs.
A United Nations system-wide study15 on the implications of the accident
at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant highlighted the relevance
and usefulness of the CTBTO radionuclide monitoring network in a nuclear
emergency and recommended that the CTBTO Preparatory Commission
contribute to developing countries’ preparedness capacities.
CTBT: Science and Technology 2011 conference
About 500 scientists as well as over 200 diplomats, representatives
of civil society and the media participated in the conference entitled
“CTBT: Science and Technology 2011”, held from 8 to 10 June in Vienna.
Representing 105 countries, participants discussed advances in science and
technology relevant to test ban verification and explored scientific applications
of the CTBT verification infrastructure. The conference also offered a unique
opportunity to build partnerships and encourage knowledge exchange between
the CTBTO Preparatory Commission and the broader scientific community.
In his video address16 to participants, the United Nations Secretary-
General commended the role played by the CTBTO Preparatory Commission
during the Japan events in March and praised efforts to “advance the science
and technology that underpin the global ban on nuclear testing”. During the
opening ceremony, Austrian Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister, Michael
Spindelegger, reiterated his country’s commitment to ensuring the Treaty’s
entry into force, which he described as long overdue and necessary.
Over 300 scientific submissions and posters were presented during the
three-day conference. Two special sessions on the tragic events in Japan were
convened, at which those events were discussed in public for the first time.
The first one examined the CTBTO monitoring of the devastating earthquake
and the subsequent radioactive emissions from the Fukushima power plant,
while the second session considered some of the issues raised since then, such
as greater sharing of data and expertise to enable a faster response if such a
situation were to occur again.
The next conference in the series, “CTBT: Science and Technology
2013”, will be held in Vienna in June 2013.
15 SG/HLM/2011/1. Available from http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=SG/
HLM/2011/1 (accessed 2 May 2012).
16 Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General, video message to the Comprehensive
Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty: Science and Technology 2011 conference, Vienna, 8 June 2011
(recorded on 31 May 2011). Available from http://www.ctbto.org/specials/ctbt-scienceand-technology-20118-10-june-2011-vienna-austria/?Fsize=o
(accessed 16 May 2012).
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