On August 5, 1963, the Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. After Senate approval, the treaty that went into effect on October 10, 1963, banned nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water.
In August of 1945, when the United States dropped two atomic
bombs on Japan, World War II
came to a conclusion.
Continued testing of atomic and then hydrogen devices lead to a rising concern
about the effects of radioactive fallout. As knowledge of the nature and effects
of fallout increased, and as it became apparent that no region in the world
was untouched by radioactive debris, the issue of continued nuclear tests drew
widened and intensified public attention. Apprehension was expressed about the
possibility of a cumulative contamination of the environment and of resultant
genetic damage.
Efforts to negotiate an international agreement to end nuclear tests began
in the Subcommittee of Five (the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada,
France, and the Soviet Union) of the United Nations Disarmament Commission in
May 1955. Public interest in the course of the negotiations was active and persistent.
A dozen resolutions of the UN General Assembly addressed the issue, repeatedly
urging conclusion of an agreement to ban tests under a system of international
controls. Efforts to achieve a test ban agreement extended over eight years
because they involved complex technical problems of verification and the difficulties
of reconciling deep-seated differences in approach to arms control and security.
The uneven progress of the negotiations was also a result of regular fluctuations
in East-West political relationships during the Cold War.
The Test Ban Treaty was signed in Moscow on August 5, 1963; ratified by the
United States Senate on September 24, 1963; and entered into force on October
10, 1963. The treaty prohibited nuclear weapons tests "or any other nuclear
explosion" in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water. While not
banning tests underground, the treaty prohibited such explosions if they caused
"radioactive debris to be present outside the territorial limits of the
State under whose jurisdiction or control" the explosions were conducted.
In accepting limitations on testing, the nuclear powers accepted as a common
goal "an end to the contamination of man's environment by radioactive substances."
For more information visit the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Nonproliferation
Limited
Test Ban Treaty page.
