§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence which nuclear arms control treaties that place restrictions on the level of nuclear weapons capability measure that capability in terms of megatonnage. [24592]
§ Mr. George RobertsonWe are not aware of any nuclear arms control treaties that place restrictions on the level of nuclear weapons capability which measure that capability in terms of megatonnage. However, the 1974 Treaty on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests and the 1976 Treaty on Underground Nuclear 29W Explosions for Peaceful Purposes limited the yield of underground nuclear weapon test explosions and other underground nuclear explosions. These were both bilateral Treaties between the United States and the Soviet Union, and had no other members. Both are effectively superseded by the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, signed by all the Nuclear Weapon States, which bans any nuclear weapon test explosion and any other nuclear explosion in any environment.