Nuclear Reset - Program on Strategic Stability Evaluation (POSSE)

Chapter 20. <strong>Nuclear</strong> Testing407of the preparatory work and providing support for the teams duringtheir inspections.The OSI Operations Manual can probably be considered oneof the most important documents that still need to be prepared beforethe Treaty enters into force, since on-site inspections are the mostdifficult and intrusive of all of the CTBT verification procedures.The great significance that member states attach to this documentcan be illustrated by the fact that Israel, for example, made its ratificationof the CTBT directly contingent on the successful developmentof an Operations Manual. During the first stage, a “transitional” draftof the Operations Manual was developed, based upon suggestions fromvarious nations and ideas from the Provisional Technical Secretariat.This represented the result of a year and a half of work by an editingteam of specialists from a number of countries (primarily from the nuclearpowers). The next, “negotiating,” stage began in June 2001, whenrepresentatives of the member states used the draft text as a basisto develop the content of the Operations Manual in an official settingand in an official format. Once this work began, however, it becameclear that this was going to be a difficult and prolonged process thatmight take more than a year to complete. Indeed, this work continuestoday, using “model texts” as a basis for negotiation that primarilycontain the general provisions without describing procedures in detail.These texts (bearing the name “Standard Operating Procedures”)have been developed by the Technical Secretariat as separate documentsfor each of the various types of inspection activities.Experiments in the field and simulation training carried out bythe Technical Secretariat have greatly contributed to the understandingof the OSI concept and the development of specific procedures,which are reflected in the Operations Manual.With respect to the equipment for the inspections, lists and specificationsof the instrumentation for passive seismological monitoring,gamma radiation measurement, and visual observation havebeen agreed to on a preliminary basis. Samples of passive seismicmonitoring equipment have been purchased for testing. The fundamentalconceptual questions relating to the storage and maintenanceinfrastructure for the inspection equipment and its transportto the inspection site have essentially been coordinated.The Technical Secretariat has been providing familiarization trainingcourses to potential inspectors since 1998. A first version of along-term training program has been developed and tested, which