HC Deb 16 July 1985 vol 83 c92W
Mr. Hill

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent initiatives Her Majesty's Government have taken at the Geneva conference on disarmament over a comprehensive nuclear test ban.

Mr. Luce

On 11 July the British delegation to the conference tabled a working paper on "Seismic Monitoring for a Comprehensive Test Ban", a copy of which will be placed in the Library shortly. The paper describes techniques for detecting and identifying seismic signals emitted by nuclear explosions, and relates these issues to the verification of a total ban on such explosions. We trust this working paper will make a helpful contribution to discussion within the conference on disarmament of unresolved technical issues which stand in the way of progress towards a verifiable comprehensive test ban.