CTBTO on-site test exercise under way

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization has begun an exercise in Kazakhstan to test on-site nuclear explosion inspection capabilities.

CTBTO officials have been working to fully test the International Monitoring System designed to monitor whether any nuclear explosion activity around the world has taken place.

After North Korea announced a nuclear test in October 2006, officials say the explosion detection elements of the International Monitoring System all worked successfully. However, the on-site testing was unable to take place, the CTBTO reported.

The 2008 Integrated Field Exercise is part of an effort to test Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty's on-site component. The CTBTO held meetings Monday before beginning the first ever on-site inspection simulation exercise on Tuesday.

"We want to see where we stand with the four elements of the verification regime," Tibor Toth, CTBTO executive secretary, said in a statement.

"The exercise will now show that the entire verification regime is working as prescribed by the CTBT."