Experts comb 'Jordan Valley nuclear test site'

By Laila Azzeh

GHOR HADITHA - Walk through the Jordan Valley and keep an eye out for any signs of a nuclear explosion.

These were the instructions given to 35 international experts from 20 countries who are in the Kingdom to conduct a mock inspection of a simulated nuclear test site.

The drill was part of an exercise under which inspectors are to determine whether a nuclear test explosion was conducted by a fictitious country in violation of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Inspectors, wearing protective suits, braved the Jordan Valley heat and split into groups to comb the 1,000-square-kilometer area, which is located on the southern shores of the Dead Sea, 25 kilometers west of Karak.

The teams wrote observations and discussed whether they had encountered geographical signs of a fictitious nuclear explosion.

“The sinkholes formulated in this area are very similar to those created after a nuclear explosion,” Matjaz Prah, director of the exercise told The Jordan Times at Ghor Al Haditha on Monday.

He added that the area is “the most suitable in terms of geographical characteristics to conduct our mock exercise”.

According to the Amman office of Friends of the Earth Middle East, there are around 800 sinkholes on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea and 1,000 on the Israeli side.

Prah highlighted that major “milestones” were identified during the exercise, which is being carried out by the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) in cooperation with the Natural Resources Authority (NRA) from November 1-12.

Darwish Jasser, assistant director general of the NRA, said the timing of the exercise had nothing to do with the “political atmosphere in the region”, stressing that Jordan offered to host the exercise back in 2004.

“We wanted to benefit from the experience and enable Jordanian cadres to work side by side with international experts,” he told The Jordan Times, indicating that around 13 Jordanians were taking part in the exercise.

Jasser explained that once the CTBT enters into force, countries who suspect that a nuclear explosion has taken place near their territories can report to the CTBTO, which would have 30 days to issue a report.

According to the CTBTO, 182 countries have signed the CTBT, of which 153 have ratified it, including three nuclear weapons states: France, Russia and the UK.

The treaty, which bans all nuclear explosions in all environments, will enter into force 180 days after all 44 states listed in Annex 2 have signed it.

So far, three of the Annex 2 states have yet to sign the treaty while nine have not ratified it, including Egypt, Iran, Israel and the US, according to the CTBTO.

CTBTO Executive Secretary Tibor Toth told The Jordan Times earlier that 90 per cent of Middle East countries have signed the treaty, noting that the CTBT cannot enter into force until the remaining Annex 2 countries ratify it.

With approximately 260 staff from most of the CTBT’s member countries, the CTBTO was established in 1996 and is headquartered in Vienna.

12 November 2010

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=31779.