§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions since 1 January he has met experts on the verification of nuclear weapon tests from (a) United Kingdom non-governmental centres of excellence, (b) the administration of the United States of America and (c) the administration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
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§ Mr. Archie HamiltonUnited Kingdom officials have met British non-governmental seismology experts on a number of occasions this year. Officials have also met foreign experts, including United States and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics representatives, at the two meetings of the ad hoc group of scientific experts of the conference on disarmament.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to study all the scientific evidence submitted to his Department from non-governmental sources on the subject of verifying a comprehensive nuclear test ban; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonI refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Mr. Lee) on 30 June 1986 at column438.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will make it his policy to invite the Natural Resource Defence Council of the United States of America to submit a full report to Her Majesty's Government on the scientific purpose, the technology employed, and the technical results of its nuclear weapon explosion verification experiments completed recently at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will make it his policy to invite Dr. Thomas Cochrane, senior scientist of the Natural Resource Defence Council of the United States of America to meet nuclear weapon test seismic verification experts in his Department;
(3) if he has any plans to invite Professor Mikhail Sodovsky, Director of the Soviet Institute of Geophysics, to engage in discussions with his Department on the subject of the technical problems associated with verifying nuclear weapon tests; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonI refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Mr. Lee) on 30 June 1986 at column438. The results of the study of the Semiplatinsk nuclear weapon test site by the Natural Resource Defence Council of the United States of America will, no doubt, be published.
The conference on disarmament in Geneva and its adhoc group of scientific experts are the appropriate fora to disccuss the issues surrounding the verification of nuclear weapons tests with the Soviet Union. We are aware of the work of Dr. Thomas Cochrane and Professor Mikhail Sodovsky through open literature.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Defence if Her Majesty's Government will make available additional financial support to non-governmental scientific bodies investigating or wishing to investigate the technical difficulties associated with verifying nuclear weapon tests; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonHer Majesty's Government are content with the present level of funding into the technical investigation of the difficulties associated with the verification of nuclear weapon tests, and in the present circumstances see no need to increase it.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the administration of the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics about the three seismic array experiments conducted at Semipalatinsk in 348W the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics by the National Resource Defence Council of the United States of America.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonNuclear testing issues are discussed as a matter of course at regular meetings with the United States Administration. We also discuss such issues with the Soviet Union.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is Her Majesty's Government's policy with regard to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic's proposal for the installation of seismic arrays around the shared United States/United Kingdom nuclear weapon test site at Nevada; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonHer Majesty's Government are not aware of any official proposal by the USSR to install seismic arrays around the United State's nuclear weapon test site in Nevada; the question is therefore hypothetical.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer on 13 May, Official Report, column 542, what is Her Majesty's Government's policy towards the degree of effectiveness required of verification systems in any future comprehensive nuclear weapons test ban; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonI refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Mr. Lee) on 2 July 1986 at column585.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Defence which particular capability of the United Kingdom's seismometers designed to verify nuclear weapons tests specifically requires improvement to achieve the requisite level of efficiency in the signal to noise ratio for effective verification; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThere are no deficiencies specific to United Kingdom seismometers and, although improvements in the signal-to-noise ratio are always beneficial, the pivotal argument in verification is not detection but an unambiguous method of discriminating between nuclear explosions and all other seismic events.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Defence what are his latest plans to accelerate Her Majesty's Government's programme for solving the technical seismic difficulties associated with the verification of a comprehensive nuclear weapons test ban.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonResearch continues to improve diagnostic and experimental techniques to identify the nature of seismic disturbances. Her Majesty's Government wholeheartedly support the activities of the conference on disarmament, and the bodies it sponsors such as the ad-hoc group of scientific experts, which is the appropriate multilateral forum in which to discuss the verification issues related to nuclear testing.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions since 1970 Her Majesty's Government have been invited to observe nuclear weapon tests conducted in the United States of America.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonUnited Kingdom observers have been present at the Nevada test site when nuclear tests relevant to the United Kingdom defence nuclear programme have been undertaken. In co-operation with the United States the United Kingdom has conducted 15 underground tests at the NTS from 1970 to date.