CTBTO official wesite - https://www.ctbto.org/
On September 30, 1996, Kazakhstan joined the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Kazakhstan's efforts to universalize the CTBT and promote its ratification by other States relate to almost all the main elements of the verification regime:
1. Creation and operation of observation stations of the Kazakhstan sector of the International Monitoring System (IMS).
In accordance with the Protocol to the CTBT, the construction of five new MSM stations has been completed in Kazakhstan for the period 1999-2006: four seismic and one infrasound. As a result of these works, Kazakhstan successfully operates:
- one station of the main seismic network PS23-Makanchi – seismic group (since 2000);
- three stations of the auxiliary seismic network: AS057-Borovoe – seismic group, spare to the main network (since 2002), AS058-Kurchatov – seismic group (since 2006), AS059-Aktobe – three-component station (since 2005);
- IS031 infrasound network station-Aktyubinsk (since 2001).
All these stations have successfully passed international certification in the period from 2002 to 2006 and operate around the clock continuously.
On November 29, 2017, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Astana between the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development of Canada on a property contribution to the Radionuclide Noble Gas Monitoring Station to strengthen control over the implementation of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Delivery and installation on the basis of the National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Kurchatov) of the specified station in the form of a mobile container was completed in December 2020.
2. Creation and operation of the Kazakhstan National Data Center.
The data center in Almaty, created with the support of the CTBTO and the Norwegian Institute of Geophysical and Seismological Research NORSAR, works in constant contact with MSM and IDC. The communications network includes 132 communication channels that provide automated data collection in real time from all Kazakhstan monitoring stations.
The Data Center publishes bulletins of varying efficiency, databases of various thematic focus (reference events, nuclear explosions, etc.). Operational processing and analysis of infrasound monitoring data is conducted on a regular basis. Systematic data exchange is carried out with 7 international and national data centers.
Since June 21, 2010, The regional training center for specialists from Central Asian countries on nuclear monitoring data processing has been opened and is currently operating on the basis of the Kazakhstan National Data Center. This project was implemented jointly with the Government of Norway and the CTBTO MTC.
3. Support of activities on the inspection regime in the field.
At the initiative of Kazakhstan and in accordance with the decision of the Preparatory Commission of the CTBTO, four field experiments on on-site inspections were conducted in Kazakhstan: in 1999, in 2002, in 2005 and in 2008.
Kazakhstan provided the territory of the former Semipalatinsk test site for conducting field experiments, which facilitated the conduct of exercises in conditions close to real.
It should be noted that the experiment conducted in Kazakhstan in 1999 was the first in the history of the CTBTO and was held with the participation of representatives of 7 States.
The 2008 field experiment in Kazakhstan was the largest, the results of which were important for improving the Guidelines for on-site Inspections.
4. Use of nuclear monitoring data for civilian purposes.
As a result of the creation of a nuclear test monitoring system, a significant amount of new data on seismicity has been obtained and continues to be received throughout Kazakhstan. These new data have led to new results.
The necessity of adjusting the map of seismic zoning of Kazakhstan and the norms of earthquake-resistant construction in different regions has been established. The data obtained make it possible to control the safety of the Caspian Sea area where oil production is carried out, and to monitor the development of post-explosive processes on the territory of the former Semipalatinsk test site.
Based on the results of the analysis of monitoring data, catalogs of industrial explosions were formed for Kazakhstan quarries.
On August 29, 2018, on the International Day against Nuclear Tests and the day of the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, a Conference of the Youth Group and a Group of Eminent Persons of the CTBTO was held in Astana with a visit to the facilities of the former Semipalatinsk test site in Kurchatov.
On August 29, 2019, in Nur-Sultan, the Executive Secretary of the CTBTO Lassina Zerbo was awarded the "Nazarbayev Prize for a World without Nuclear Weapons and Global Security" in a joint nomination with the Director General of the IAEA Yukio Amano.
In March 2021 Director General of the National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan Erlan Batyrbekov was appointed to the post of Chairman of Working Group "B" for a three-year period.
In September 2022, the Executive Secretary of the CTBTO, Robert Floyd, took part in a Kazakhstan side event in New York dedicated to the International Day against Nuclear Tests.