Hiroshima and Nagasaki were brutally destroyed by the American atomic bombs in the fall of 1945. By the end of the year about 220,000 men, women and children had lost their lives. Hundreds of thousands of the survivors were affected by fatal diseases induced by radioactive fallout. Human tragedy on such a colossal scale had never visited this planet before.
The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were of 15 and 21 kilotons TNT yield respectively. TNT is a powerful explosive material, and the destructive power of a nuclear weapon is measured in terms of the kilotons of TNT. A nuclear weapon yielding one kiloton of TNT is equal to the destructive power of one thousand tons of TNT. Usually, the acronym TNT is dropped while describing the yield of a nuclear weapon.
Second World War brought in its wake an era of cold war between the USSR and the USA. They found themselves trapped willy-nilly into a mad nuclear arms race. Not only they were each producing and stockpiling a large number of nuclear weapons, they were developing bombs of increasingly higher destructive power. To quote an example, the USA exploded at Bikini atoll a thermonuclear device code-named Castle Bravo of 15,000 kilotons on March 1, 1954. Not to be left behind the Soviet Union answered back by exploding their hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba on October 31, 1961 with an estimated yield of 50,000 kilotons. It outperformed the Castle Bravo by a factor of more than 3. It must have sure put a malicious smile on the face of Nikita Khrushchev.
Insanity of the superpowers was boundless. However, the USA and the USSR had been coming under immense international pressure to halt the arms race. There was growing realization by the all concerned that explosions of gigantic sizes were extremely dangerous and could lead to unintended consequences. Military experts knew that the super nuclear devices did not give any party any real strategic advantage over the adversary. Rather, these jumbo weapons would give rise to untold logistical problems. It needed a series of complicated technical maneuvers to detonate them precisely at a predetermined time and place. The underground tests carried another serious risk. Destructive force of an unusually powerful underground blast might crack open the ground surface and release its radioactive debris in atmosphere. A powerful underground explosion could also trigger off a earthquake. Slowly and surely, it became clear to everybody that the weapons of extremely high yield were not force multipliers. At best they were ego multipliers. They were ugly showpieces of military hardware.
Huge international pressure had been building up on the Soviet Union and the USA to restrict the size of their nuclear devices. Ultimately the USA and the Soviet Union caved in.
At Moscow on July 3, 1974, President Richard Nixon and General Secretary L.Brezhnev, on behalf of their respective countries, signed the Treaty on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests limiting the destructive power of nuclear test explosions. The treaty, popularly known as the Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT) banned nuclear test explosions having yield of more than 150 kilotons of TNT. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had yield only of 15 kilotons. By implication, these two superpowers believed that it was good enough for them to have a nuclear device more than ten times the destructive power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. However, the treaty removed from the minds of people the fear of testing or developing any more monstrous weapons like Castle Bravo or Tsar Bomba. The treaty thus restricted the overall deployable destructive power of their weapon systems. It suited both the USA and the Soviet Union, as it was compatible with their first strike capability. Unless you test the reliability of a weapon one hundred percent you will be foolish to use it for a first strike. It was easy to test the reliability of a smaller weapon than a very large weapon.
In simple English, the treaty meant that in the worst case scenario of a war between America and the Soviet Union, the first or the retaliatory nuclear strike will not have the destructive capacity of more than 150 kilotons of TNT. The treaty could give only psychological comfort to the people who were rooting for substantial nuclear disarmament. A 15 kiloton bomb wiped off Hiroshima. A 150 kiloton bomb would easily wipe off New York, Moscow or London.
The Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT) entered into force on December 11, 1990. It provided, inter alia, that the compliance would be monitored by seismic stations, situated outside the testing country. A protocol attached integrally to the treaty designated specifically the sites where the tests could be conducted. The procedures for the exchange of technical information were also laid down in detail with a view to improving the quality of verification.
TTBT turned out to be a gentlemen’s agreement. There was an express understanding recorded in the transmittal documents which accompanied the TTBT, when it was submitted on July 29, 1976 to American Senate for ratification.
“Both Parties will make every effort to comply fully with all the provisions of the TTB Treaty. However, there are technical uncertainties associated with predicting the precise yields of nuclear weapons tests. These uncertainties may result in slight, unintended breaches of the 150 kiloton threshold. Therefore, the two sides have discussed this problem and agreed that: (1) one or two slight, unintended breaches per year would not be considered a violation of the Treaty; (2) such breaches would be a cause for concern, however, and, at the request of either Party, would be the subject for consultations.”
Although TTBT was signed in July 1974, it was not ratified for a long time presumably due to different perceptions of verification procedures. However, in 1976 the Soviet Union and the USA independently announced their intention to observe the Treaty limit of 150 kilotons pending the completion of the ratification process.
TTBT was ratified on December 8, 1990 by the American Senate. It entered into force on December 11, 1990.
Article III of TTBT provide an important exception to the 150 kiloton rule. It lays down that "The provisions of this Treaty do not extend to underground nuclear explosions carried out by the Parties for peaceful purposes....." The companion treaty was signed on May 28, 1976 at Washington and Moscow by President Gerald Ford and L. Brezhnev respectively. It is popularly called Peaceful Nuclear Explosion Treaty (PNET) and it entered into force on the same day as TTBT. I may sound cynical, but it is possible that PNET might be an eyewash by the superpowers to find an excuse for conducting high-energy blasts, should they really feel the need. I cannot think of any peaceful 150 kiloton plus blast, unless they want to set fire to the Himalayas.
TTBT demonstrated that the superpowers were vulnerable to sensible international opinion. If one digs deeply into the genesis of the TTBT, one cannot help feeling that the top political levels of the USA and the Soviet Union were psychologically insecure. It is difficult to comprehend that some day somebody would need to use a weapon of 150 kilotons of TNT. Mankind cannot afford to see a repeat of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, under whatever circumstances. TTBT is nothing more than a psychological lollipop doled out to a vast number of people all over the world who desire this planet to get rid of all the atom bombs, hydrogen bombs and neutron bombs. It hardly matters if they are big or small, clean or dirty, peaceful or belligerent, capitalist or communist, Occidental or Oriental.....
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