Dr. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonweath Affairs what information he has on the United States nuclear test exploded on 17 August monitored by Soviet military verification experts near the Nevada test site.
§ Mr. WaldegraveAn underground nuclear explosion took place on 17 August at the Nevada test site. It was the first leg of a United States/Soviet joint verification experiment, the second element of which was an explosion at the Semipalatinsk test site on 14 September. Each explosion was monitored by both United States and Soviet experts. The purpose of the experiment was to demonstrate hydrodynamic and seismic methods of verification as an aid to the conclusion of a verification protocol to the 1974 threshold test ban treaty. The results of the joint verification experiment are being analysed by each side.