Paraguay signs Facility Agreement

Paraguay has signed a Facility Agreement with the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) on Friday 4 April. The Facility Agreement, signed by Ambassador Oscar Cabello Sarubbi on behalf of Paraguay, and by the Executive Secretary, Wolfgang Hoffmann, on behalf of the Commission, grants the Preparatory Commission the necessary legal authority to carry out work on International Monitoring System (IMS) facilities on Paraguay?s territory. The Commission has now signed 24 Facility Agreements with States hosting IMS facilities. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which Paraguay signed on 25 September 1996 and ratified on 4 October 2001, bans all nuclear test explosions. Compliance with the terms of the Treaty is monitored by a global verification regime, which uses seismic, hydroacoustic, infrasound and radionuclide technologies to detect evidence of possible nuclear explosions. Under the terms of the CTBT, Paraguay hosts two verification stations: an infrasound station (IS41) and a primary seismic station (PS30), both located at Villa Florida. These stations form part of the 337-facility International Monitoring System (IMS), a key element in the global verification regime. The IMS consists of 50 primary seismic stations, 120 auxiliary seismic stations, 60 infrasound stations and 11 hydroacoustic stations which monitor vibrations in the atmosphere or under water that may result from a nuclear explosion. The IMS also includes 96 radionuclide facilities which sample or analyse radioactive material which may have been released during a possible nuclear explosion. Data from the IMS stations is transmitted to the International Data Centre (IDC) in Vienna, where it is processed and forwarded to the Member States for their review.

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Annika Thunborg, Chief, Public Information  
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