NUCLEAR TESTS (Hansard, 30 March 1960)

§ Mr. Selwyn Lloyd

As the House is aware, on 11th February the United States delegation put forward a proposal to ban tests in the atmosphere up to a feasible height of control, under water, and underground above a power producing seismic events of magnitude of 4.75. On 19th March, the Soviet delegation took up this proposal and suggested that in addition there should be a simultaneous undertaking not to conduct any nuclear weapons tests below this magnitude during a period of joint research and experiment by the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom into the problems of detecting underground tests. This proposal for joint research, an idea to which I referred in the House on 29th October last year, was itself a feature of the United States proposals of the 11th of February.

Her Majesty's Government regard this development as an important one and, as the House is aware, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has been discussing the matter with the President of the United States.

They made a joint declaration yesterday, the text of which is as follows:

JOINT DECLARATION ABOUT NUCLEAR TESTS

President Eisenhower and Prime Minister Macmillan have discussed the present position of the Nuclear Tests Conference at Geneva between the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union.

It has been, and remains, the earnest desire of both the United States Government and Her Majesty's Government in the United 131W Kingdom to achieve, by international agreement, the total prohibition of all nuclear weapons tests, under effective international control.

When the Geneva Conference began seventeen months ago, there was reason to hope from the preliminary scientific discussions which had preceded it that there would be no insuperable technical or scientific difficulties in establishing an effective control system capable of detecting nuclear tests of all kinds. Subsequently, however, it appeared from further scientific research that in our present state of knowledge there are great technical problems involved in setting up a control system which would be effective in detecting underground nuclear tests below a certain size. It is, however, the sincere hope of the President and the Prime Minister that an agreed programme of co-ordinated scientific research, undertaken by the three countries, will lead in time to a solution of this problem.

Meanwhile, the President and the Prime Minister believe that progress can be made towards their ultimate objective of a comprehensive agreement. They have agreed that much has been accomplished in these Geneva negotiations towards this objective. They point out that in the effort to achieve the early conclusion of a treaty there are a number of important specific problems to be resolved. These include the questions of an adequate quota of on-site inspections, the composition of the Control Commission, control post staffing, and voting matters, as well as arrangements for peaceful purposes detonations. They believe that negotiations on these points should be speeded up and completed at the earliest possible time. The Prime Minister and the President have agreed that as soon as this treaty has been signed and arrangements made for a co-ordinated research programme for the purpose of progressively improving control methods for events below a seismic magnitude of 4.75 they will be ready to institute a voluntary moratorium of agreed duration on nuclear weapons tests below that threshold, to be accomplished by unilateral declaration of each of the three Powers. Indeed, in order to expedite progress, the President and the Prime Minister have agreed to invite the Soviet Government to join at once with their two Governments in making arrangements for such a co-ordinated research programme and putting it into operation.

It is to be understood that once the treaty is signed, ratification will have to follow the constitutional processes of each country.

The President and the Prime Minister have agreed to give instructions to their delegates at Geneva in accordance with the spirit of this declaration.