Speaker
Description
NDC Preparedness Exercises (NPE) are regularly performed dealing with fictional cases of potential treaty violations to practice the combined analysis of all CTBT verification technologies. The discussion of results at NDC Workshops enhances the mutual exchange of information between NDC and also with the PTS. The scenario of the NPE2013 was the most complex so far. A fictitious accusing State Signatory pointed to a series of (simulated) radionuclide findings at IMS stations in Europe/Asia and postulated a connection with detections of a supposed seismic event which occurred within the territory of the fictitious state of FRISIA in Central Europe on September 4th, 2013. The seismic event was not included in the REB. The potential connection between the waveform and simulated radionuclide evidence remained unclear for the participants. The verification task was to identify the waveform event in the given tempo-spatial domain and to investigate potential sources of the simulated radionuclide findings. Finally the potential conjunction between the sources and the CTBT-relevance of the whole picture had to be evaluated. The overall question was whether requesting an On-Site-Inspection in FRISIA would be justified. The disclosure of the NPE2013 indicated a false-positive scenario with completely unrelated causes of the reported signals.
