A monitoring station that will help police a worldwide ban on nuclear testing will be officially opened in the Far North tomorrow.
The $800,000 station at Kaitaia will be able to detect minute particles of radioactive dust (radionuclide activity) released into the atmosphere by nuclear explosions, Health Minister Annette King said yesterday.
On March 1 it joined what will eventually be a worldwide network of 300 such stations being set up to enforce the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Annette King, one of three Coalition MPs who will be at tomorrow's ceremony, said the stations would use radionuclide, infrasound, seismic and hydroacoustic technologies to detect explosions.
Of these, radionuclide detection was the most critical, she said.
It was regarded as the "smoking gun" in proving beyond doubt that an explosion had taken place.
The Kaitaia station was strategically important. It could monitor large parts of the Pacific Ocean, considered a possible contender for clandestine testing, and eventually would be able to detect radioactive gases and very long-wave infrasound waves throughout the Pacific.
New Zealand has two other sites, in the Chatham Islands and the Cook Islands. All three sites use imported detection equipment, with locally developed software communicating with an international data centre in Vienna, Austria.
The other MPs attending tomorrow will be Disarmament Minister Matt Robson and Te Tai Tokerau MP Dover Samuels.NZPA
One of three stations operated by New Zealand, it
would will be opened by Annette King, Disarmament Minister Matt Robson, and Te Tai Tokerau MP Dover Samuels.
Eventually it would be able to detect radioactive gases and very longwave infrasound waves throughout the Pacific.
Connected to the international network on March 1, it is part of an International Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) network that will result in more than 300 such stations being set up worldwide.
Stations use radionuclide, infrasound, seismic and hydroacoustic technologies to detect explosions.
Radionuclide detection is the most critical, said Annette King.
It is regarded as the "smoking gun" in proving beyond doubt an explosion had taken place.
The Kaitaia station was strategically important. It could monitor large parts of the Pacific Ocean, considered a possible contender for clandestine testing.
New Zealand's other sites are in the Chatham Islands and the Cook Islands.
All three New Zealand sites use imported detection equipment, with locally developed software communicating with the International Data centre in Vienna, Austria.
Nuclear disarmament and an end to nuclear weapons testing had huge health implications, Mrs King said.
Testing in the Pacific had caused substantial health concerns, so the CTBT should mean the Pacific should never again fear its impacts on personal and community health.
New Zealand would work hard to persuade nuclear-capable countries who have yet to ratify the treaty to do so, Mrs King said.
- NZPA
NZ strengthens nuclear policing
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