Thanks for the blast, North Korea

New Scientist
Editorial 30 May 2009

It may sound perverse, but the maverick nuclear state could have done us all a favour

Is a nuclear explosion ever good news? Well, the test in North Korea this week might just be something to celebrate. Hard to swallow, perhaps: the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) is tottering, countries all over the world are acquiring nuclear technology, and Iran is enriching uranium. So North Korea tests a second nuclear bomb, and this is a good thing?

In a way, yes. For one thing, it was an unmissable reminder that we need to call off the new nuclear arms race that is developing. And paradoxically it was also a bang-up demonstration that we have technology that might coax the runners off the starting line.

The world can't put off action much longer. The 1968 NPT asked countries without nukes to forgo them, and in return the five countries that already had them promised to give them up - eventually. That second promise has obviously not been kept, and after 40 years nuclear have-nots are reconsidering the deal especially as Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea have demonstrated that joining the nuclear club gets you respect. If the NPT review conference next year falls apart like the last one did, the arms race could be unstoppable.

The risks are huge. Some bomb would inevitably blow up somewhere, by accident or by design, and meanwhile we need money for schools, farms, clean water and energy so We'll be lucky much more than for bombs. How, then, can we curb proliferation?

Revive the NPT, for a start. That means the nuclear states must keep their side of the bargain. Encouragingly, Russia and the US are already talking about cutting missiles and fissile material.

But the clearest signal would be to bring the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) into force. New nukes need testing, and a test ban would mean that existing nuclear powers are serious about disarmament. The treaty languishes because the US signed but failed to ratify it. Congress was convinced both that the US needed tests and that other countries would secretly break the ban.

The scientific community has already disproved the first argument. Now the North Koreans have reminded us what the treaty's verification network long ago proved: we can prevent cheating. Dedicated seismographs relayed the test's giveaway vibrations to the state-of-the-art CTBT lab in Vienna in milliseconds. Detectors are even now sniffing for telltale gases. If someone had tried this in water or air, CTBT sensors would spot it.

No more excuses. We need this treaty to deter anyone else tempted to go nuclear - and even more, so that countries might again take the NPT seriously. Feel the shock waves from North Korea. Ratify the test ban treaty.