By. CSNA-Media Staff
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty is a multilateral treaty to ban nuclear weapons test explosions and any other nuclear explosions, for both civilian and military purposes, in all environments.
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister has expressed regrets for not proceeding with an Integrated Field Exercise (IFE) under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said citing the new government’s priority for domestic challenges.
According to this, with the mutual agreement of the international organization in charge of these sectors, the new government has postponed the event for a month.
Sri Lanka announced in 2023 that it had abrogated the agreement signed by the country in 1996. Soon after the signing of the agreement in 1996, an auxiliary seismic station was also established at Pallekele, Kandy.
After the ratification, Sri Lanka’s Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) had submitted a bid to the CTBTO to host a six-week Integrated Field Exercise 2025 (IFE 2025) in about a 1000 square kilometres land area in the Eastern Province.
The European-headquartered Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization was to carry out work under the treaty, including on-site inspection (OSI) events. “Sri Lanka withdrew from hosting the IFE of the CTBTO,” a Foreign Ministry source told EconomyNext.
Another source confirmed the move and said Sri Lanka has already informed the CTBTO, the international body in charge.
However, Foreign Ministry spokesperson and CTBTO officials were not immediately available for comment.
Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath last month said that the government has informed its decision on postponing the IFE to the CTBTO.
The IFE has conducted similar events in Kazakhstan (2008) and Jordan (2014).
Since the signing of the ratification of the Treaty, the crisis-hit Sri Lanka has to pay an annual fee of over 25,000 Euros, a government document showed.
The Integrated Field Exercise is a simulated field exercise for technical experts and scientists from CTBTO.
CTBTO reconnaissance team had identified a land area adjacent to the Maduruoya National Park in the Eastern Province for the IFE-2025.
Concerns were raised over the allocation of vast land area in the Eastern province citing that it could have an impact on tourism industry and lands accessed by private entities and the general public, according to officials familiar with the process.
The IFE includes activities such as ground surveys, drilling for samples, or the deployment of equipment could temporarily disturb local ecosystems, including soil and vegetation, they said.
Wildlife could also have been displaced due to human presence and noise during the exercise.
The Integrated Field Exercise was to use seismic instruments, and other equipment which may cause minor physical alterations with ground-based methods, like trenching or shallow excavation likely to cause localized disturbances.
The exercise could involve releasing chemicals to simulate an explosion and create conditions that will enable them to monitor nuclear radiation in a controlled environment, the officials said.
Sri Lanka supported the draft treaty by participating in the negotiations of the CTBT in the conference on Disarmament in Geneva and signed the Treaty on 24 October 1996. Ratification further reaffirms Sri Lanka’s contribution to global non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament objectives. As the 178th ratifying party to the CTBT, Sri Lanka’s ratification contributes to confirming the status of the CTBT as a norm-setting instrument against the use of nuclear weapons.