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UN / INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST NUCLEAR TESTS ADVANCER
STORY: UN / INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST NUCLEAR TESTS ADVANCER
TRT: 9.00
SOURCE: CTBTO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 23, 24 AUGUST 2010, VIENNA, AUSTRIA / FILE
23 AUGUST 2010, VIENNA, AUSTRIA
1. Wide shot, view of the Vienna International Centre Plaza, various countries' flags and a water fountain
2. Wide shot, a United Nations flag waves, behind a water fountain
3. Med shot, the United Nations flag high in the sky
FILE / 16 JULY 1945, NEW MEXICO
4. Various shots, Trinity test, the first nuclear weapons test, conducted by the U.S.A.
23 AUGUST 2010, VIENNA, AUSTRIA
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Annika Thunborg, spokesperson, CTBTO:
"Today it is difficult to imagine that nuclear bombs went off all the time in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Imagine that over 2000 nuclear bombs exploded in over sixty different locations. All over the world, affecting people, animals and land; Everywhere; In Islands in the Pacific, in the Arctic Ocean, in the Algerian desert, in inland Australia in North Western China in South Western United States; In what is today Kazakhstan, up in the Arctic ocean, everywhere on Earth."
FILE / 25 JULY 1946, BIKINI ATOLL
6. Various shots, underwater nuclear test part of Operation Crossroads, a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in the summer of 1946
FILE / UNKNOWN
7. Various shots, unknown underwater nuclear test explosion
FILE / 1964, CHINA
8. Various shots, nuclear test conducted by China
23 AUGUST 2010, VIENNA
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Annika Thunborg, spokesperson, CTBTO:
"In the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands for example the whole ecosystem has been completely changed. The flora and fauna look completely different now than it did before the testing and people are not able to move back there due to the radioactivity."
24 AUGUST 2010 / CTBTO / GRAPHIC /
10. Close up, number of tests conducted by the U.S.A, the U.S.R.R, France, the U.K and China from 1945 to 1996
23 AUGUST 2010, VIENNA
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Annika Thunborg, spokesperson, CTBTO:
"It was finally in 1996 with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test- Ban- Treaty that nuclear testing came to an end. But the Treaty has not entered into force. Which means that the door to nuclear testing remains open and all this can come back to us if we don't close this door once and for all and put this legal instrument firmly in place; erecting a firm barrier to any further nuclear weapons development."
FILE / UNKNOWN
12. Various shots, soldiers are sitting on the ground, while a nuclear test is taking place near them. The bomb is detonated and the mushroom cloud starts to appear up in the sky
23 AUGUST 2010, VIENNA
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Selma Ashipala-Musavyi, chairperson CTBTO:
"It is important because it preserves peace. Before you use a nuclear weapon, you have to test it, to see whether it works or not. So this is the first step to preventing the use of nuclear weapons. And it is important to everybody, whether you are an African, a European, or a Latin-American or an Asian. As long as you are a human being on this Earth it is important."
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Tibor Toth, Executive Secretary CTBTO:
"Nuclear weapons are too many, in too many hands, and they might end up in the hands of terrorists. It is important to close the door to nuclear weapon developments, and the Test-Ban-Treaty is part and parcel of this program. It closes the door to new nuclear weapon States and it closes the door to for the existing ones. It is important that this goal has been stated but it's also more important that to act on it."
24 AUGUST 2010 / CTBTO / GRAPHIC
15. Close up, a world map where the nine countries that still have to ratify the CTBT in order to the treaty come into force are highlighted in yellow
23 AUGUST 2010, VIENNA
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Selma Ashipala-Musavyi, chairperson CTBTO:
"I believe that the Treaty will enter into force. It's a matter of time. I think the decision by Indonesia which is an Annex 2 State to commence with the ratification process will create a momentum. Not only in Asia but I think in other parts of the world. I'm an optimist. But we need to work hard -- we need not stop until the Treaty comes into force."
FILE / 28 MAY 1998, CHAGAI HILLS / PAKISTAN
17. Med shot, a waving Pakistani flag
18. Various shots, the Pakistani nuclear test, in the Chagai Hills
FILE / DATE UNKNOWN / NORTH KOREA
19. Wide shot, military vehicles parade in North Korea.
20. Various shots, the leader of DPRK, Kim Jong II, walks and starts applauding
21. Med shot, soldiers march in a military parade
22. Wide shot, outside view of nuclear facilities
FILE / 25 MAY 2010, BISCHOFSREUT, BAVARIAN FOREST
23. Wide shot, two round vaults in the forest floor surrounded by mist and trees.
24. Med shot, two round vaults in the forest floor.
25. Med shot, man prepares to go into vault.
26. Med shot, man starts going down through the ladder into the vault.
27. SOUNDBITE (English) Nicolai Gestermann, Seismologist of the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Germany:
"Every earthquake or explosion generates waves that travel through the crust around the world, and we can record such waves with a seismometer like this one."
24 AUGUST 2010 / CTBTO / GRAPHIC
28. Close up, waves vibrating through the earth's crust and travelling to the seismic array in Germany where the vibrations are registered
FILE / 25 MAY 2010, BISCHOFSREUT, BAVARIAN FOREST
29. SOUNDBITE (English) Christian Boennemann, Head German National Data Centre, Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources:
"In 2006 and 2009 we detected two nuclear tests done by North Korea. And they traveled as far as eight-thousand kilometers but these stations are so sensitive that we get very good seismograms which identified these tests as real nuclear explosions and for us it became clear were not earthquakes."
30. Wide shot, two men carrying equipment walk down a set of steps in the forest
31. Wide shot, view of the station hut in the forest
32. Med shot, two men work in the computer room, monitoring data
33. Med shot, a man writes down information while he works in the computer.
34. SOUNDBITE (English) Tibor Toth, Executive Secretary, Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation:
"It's not coming from one source it's coming from dozens of countries. So this type of information cannot be challenged because it's all inclusive data gathering, all inclusive data processing, and all inclusive data distribution."
35. Close up, computer screen in which data from explosions are presented
36. Med shot, operator looking at a computer screen and typing, inside a room with other computers
37. Med shot: operator working with the computer
38. SOUNDBITE (English) Erwin Hinz, Electrical Engineer, Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Germany:
"We are collecting data from infrasound and from seismic stations. It comes in over fiber optic cables, is converted here into electrical signals and sent to our central computer and there we will put the data to Vienna by a satellite link and in parallel to Hannover via an east-line."
24 AUGUST 2010 / CTBTO / GRAPHIC
39. Close up, the process through which the data is sent from the seismic station to Vienna via satellite.
FILE / DATE UNKNOWN / VIENNA, AUSTRIA
40. Med shot, satellites on the roof of the Vienna International Centre
41. Wide shot, satellites on the roof of the Vienna International Centre
42. Wide shot, view to the city of Vienna, including the building of the Vienna International Centre
43. Med shot, the CTBTO sign in a glass door, in which is written "Office of the Executive Secretary"
44. Med shot, man on the roof of the Vienna International Centre places filter on a large round radionuclide test station
45. Close shot, the man's hands places filter on a large round radionuclide test station
46. Various shots, man continues to work with the round radionuclide test station
47. Med shot, behind a glass door, in which is written "control room", a man is working on a computer
48. Med close, man working in the computer room, where several screens show colourful graphs and information coming from the stations
49. Med shot, several screens show colourful graphs and information coming from the stations
50. Close up, hands typing in a computer keyboard
51. Close up, map showing stations in Africa and South America
52. SOUNDBITE (English) Lassina Zerbo, Director International Data, CTBTO:
"We monitor everything that's happening in the field with regard to our monitoring facilities. So basically it's the centre where we check the health of the system."
53. Various shots, female analyst works with computer data in an office
54. Various shots, male analyst works with computer data in an office
55. Close up, computer screen shows map and graphs related to the verification system
There are renewed calls to bring the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty into force, to mark 29 August, the first International Day Against Nuclear Testing.
It started early morning on 16 July 1945, at a desert test site in New Mexico. It was here the United States exploded the first atomic bomb and sparked a global race for the ultimate weapon.
SOUNDBITE (English) Annika Thunborg, spokesperson, CTBTO:
"Today it is difficult to imagine that nuclear bombs went off all the time in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Imagine that over 2000 nuclear bombs exploded in over sixty different locations. All over the world, affecting people, animals and land; Everywhere; In Islands in the Pacific, in the Arctic Ocean, in the Algerian desert, in inland Australia in North Western China in South Western United States; In what is today Kazakhstan, up in the Arctic ocean, everywhere on Earth."
29 August marks the first International Day Against Nuclear Testing. It was 19 years ago on that date the Semipalatinsk test site closed. The Soviet Union conducted over 450 nuclear explosions at the site, in what is today Kazakhstan. It did so with scant regard for health and safety.
It was an all too familiar story that echoed across the world. And saw the plant become a military playground for perfecting bombs.
SOUNDBITE (English) Annika Thunborg, spokesperson, CTBTO:
"In the bikini atoll in the Marshall Islands for example the whole eco system has been completely changed. The flora and fauna look completely different now than it did before the testing and people are not able to move back there due to the radioactivity."
The world witnessed over 2000 nuclear explosions. Before testing screeched to a halt in 1996 the year the Test Ban Treaty opened for signature.
SOUNDBITE (English) Annika Thunborg, spokesperson, CTBTO:
"It was finally in 1996 with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test- Ban- Treaty that nuclear testing came to an end. But the Treaty has not entered into force which means that the door to nuclear testing remains open and all this can come back to us if we don't close this door once and for all and put this legal instrument firmly in place. Erecting a firm barrier to any further nuclear weapons development."
The Treaty bans all atomic explosions everywhere on the planet - in the atmosphere, underwater and underground.
SOUNDBITE (English) Selma Ashipala-Musavyi, chairperson CTBTO:
"It is important because it preserves peace. Before you use a nuclear weapon, you have to test it, to see whether it works or not. So this is the first step to preventing the use of nuclear weapons. And it is important to everybody, whether you are an African, a European, or a Latin-American or an Asian. As long as you are a human being on this Earth it is important."
The Treaty not only stops new countries joining the nuclear club it prevents countries that already have atomic bombs, modernizing and advancing their nuclear arsenal.
SOUNDBITE (English) Tibor Toth, Executive Secretary CTBTO:
"Nuclear weapons are too many, in too many hands, and they might end up in the hands of terrorists. It is important to close the door to nuclear weapon developments, and the Test-Ban-Treaty is part and parcel of this program. It is important that this goal has been stated but it's also more important that to act on it."
Today over 150 countries have joined Treaty. But it will only enter into force when the remaining nine so called 'hold out States' ratify.
SOUNDBITE (English) Selma Ashipala-Musavyi, chairperson CTBTO:
"I believe that the Treaty will enter into force. It's a matter of time. I think the decision by Indonesia which is an Annex 2 State to commence with the ratification process will create a momentum. Not only in Asia but I think in other parts of the world. But we need to work hard; we need not stop until the Treaty comes into force."
Three countries have broken the de-facto moratorium and tested nuclear weapons since the Treaty opened for signature. India, Pakistan and North Korea.
The tests by North Korea in 2006 and 2009 were detected by the CTBT's International Monitoring System. It's the verification arm of the Treaty: to catch out any cheaters detonating an atomic bomb.
This is one of twenty-six vaults dug into Germany's Bavarian forest at Bischofsreut. They're listening for nuclear noise. It was used during the cold war, to monitor nuclear testing in the Soviet Union.
Today it's part of the CTBT's global monitoring network watching the world for nuclear blasts.
SOUNDBITE (English) Nicolai Gestermann, Seismologist of the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Germany:
"Every earthquake or explosion generates waves that travel through the crust around the world, and we can record such waves with a seismometer like this one."
Think of it like throwing a pebble into water. The waves ripple through the Earth. The vibrations can travel for thousands of kilometers. Nuclear explosions have a distinctive wave pattern, which the seismometers suck up and record.
SOUNDBITE (English) Christian Boennemann, Head German National Data Centre, Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources:
"In 2006 and 2009 we detected two nuclear tests done by North Korea. And they traveled as far as eight-thousand kilometers but these stations are so sensitive that we get very good seismograms which identified these tests as real nuclear explosions and for us it became clear were not earthquakes."
What made the German's findings significant is that, they are not alone. The station is part of a network of 337 facilities being built across the globe to alert the world to any nuclear blast.
SOUNDBITE (English) Tibor Toth, Executive Secretary CTBTO:
"It's not coming from one source, it's coming from dozen of countries. So this type of information cannot be challenged because it's all inclusive data gathering, all inclusive data processing, and all inclusive data distribution."
It's this "hard science" that can pin-point when and where a nuclear explosion has occurred.
SOUNDBITE (English) Erwin Hinz, Electrical Engineer, Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Germany:
"We are collecting data from infrasound and from seismic stations. It comes in over fiber optic cables, is converted here into electrical signals and sent to our central computer and there we will put the data to Vienna by a satellite link and in parallel to Hannover via an east-line."
And it takes just seconds. Some 250 stations send data in near real time to Vienna. It's the headquarters of the CTBTO, the independent world body to observe possible breaches to the Test-Ban-Treaty. It watches the world for signs of a nuclear blast anywhere, by anyone.
SOUNDBITE (English) Lassina Zerbo, CTBTO Director International Data:
"This room is the first point of entry for anything technical in this organization. So it's the first point of call for our station operators, or NDC, for any issue that they are dealing with regards to operating and maintaining the system. That's where they are coming, to talk about any problem on a daily basis. And not only this, we monitor everything that's happening in the field with regard to our monitoring facilities. So basically it's the centre where we check the health of the system."
Data streams in around the clock. Including from field stations that use high-tech tools to measure low frequency sounds on land and sea, and radioactive particles in the air. It's a powerful combination that enables analysts to fingerprint an atomic explosion. The global data is analyzed, and both the raw and processed information fed to countries that signed the Treaty. They then decide if a country has detonated an atomic weapon.
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