U.S., Soviet Union sign Joint Verification Experiment Agreement

US Department of State Bulletin, August, 1988

Following is the text of the Joint Verification Experiment (JVE) Agreement signed in Moscow by Secretary Shultz and Foreign Minister Shevardnadze on May 31, 1988.1

Agreement Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Conduct of a Joint Verification Experiment

The United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, hereinafter referred to as the Parties,

Reaffirming the statement of the Secretary of State of the United States and the Foreign Minister of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of December 9, 1987,

Proceeding from the agreement to conduct a Joint Verification Experiment, hereinafter referred to as JVE, for the purpose of the elaboration of effective verification measures for the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests, hereinafter referred to as the 1974 Treaty on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests,

Taking into account the agreements reached by the U.S. and Soviet delegations at the negotiations in Geneva on specific JVE technical procedures and organizational plans in full conformity with the December 9, 1987, ministerial statement,

Have agreed as follows:

1. For purposes of the JVE, there shall be two nuclear explosions, one at the U.S. Nevada Test Site and one at the USSR Semipalatinsk Test Site, each hereinafter being referred to as a JVE explosion.

2. The planned yield of the JVE explosion at each test site shall be not less than 100 kilotons and shall approach 150 kilotons.

3. Each Party shall have the opportunity to measure, on the basis of reciprocity, the yield of the JVE explosion conducted at the other Paity's test site using teleseismic methods and, at the other's test site, using hydrodynamic yield measurement methods.

4. Each Party shall also perform teleseismic measurements with its national seismic station network for both JVE explosions. To assist in teleseismic measurement, the Parties shall exchange data on five nuclear explosions conducted after January 1, 1978 but before January 1, 1988 to include yield, date and time, geographic coordinates, depth of burial, and associated geological and geophysical data. For each of these historical explosions, the Parties shall exchange teleseismic recordings taken at five designated stations on each side including station corrections and the best network seismic magnitude.

5. Each Paity shall perform hydrodynamic yield measurements within the satellite hole provided for that purpose of the JVE explosions at both Parties' test sites using the methods it has identified in this Agreement.

6. As a yield standard, the experiment will include yield measurement within the emplacement hole of the JVE explosions at both Parties' test sites using the hydrodynamic methods each Party has identified in this Agreement. Each Party shall report to the other Party the yield values of each of the JVE explosions that are derived by each Party on the basis of hydrodynamic yield measurements undertaken within the satellite hole and within the emplacement hole. Each Party shall undertake for the purpose of the JVE to ensure at its test site a test configuration that will allow each Party to obtain an accurate yield standard of the JVE explosion. The use of hydrodynamic yield measurement methods within the emplacement hole by the visiting Party is being undertaken only in the JVE, and such measurement methods within the emplacement hole shall not be proposed by either Party for verification of the 1974 Treaty on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests.

7. In the course of the JVE, each Party shall carry out teleseismic measurements of both JVE explosions at its five seismic stations for which historical data were exchanged. The Parties shall exchange the seismic data obtained in the JVE in corresponding detail to that exchanged for the historical explosions.

8. The JVE will provide information on the basis of which each Party ean demonstrate the effectiveness of its hydrodynamic yield measurement methods at the test site of the other Party. Because the JVE is not designed to produce statistically significant results, it cannot by itself establish statistical proof of the accuracy of any particular yield measurement method.

9. The JVE conducted at both test sites will provide sufficient information to resolve all concerns, except those of a statistical nature, that have been identified by either Party regarding methods proposed by the other Party for verification of the 1974 Treaty on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests by providing an example of the effectiveness of the verification methods used in the JVE and by demonstrating their practicability and non-intrusiveness.

10. Specific design procedures of the JVE configuration within the emplacement hole that may have been necessary to accommodate technical objectives of the JVE shall not provide a basis for objections by either Party regarding the use of hydrodynamic yield measurements within the satellite hole for future nuclear tests. Such design procedures of the JVE configuration shall not establish a precedent for requiring similar design procedures in the two Parties' future tests as a condition for agreement on measures permitting effective verification of the 1974 Treaty on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests.