CTBTO Executive Secretary R. Floyd officially visited Slovakia

On April 9, 2024 the Executive Secretary (ES) of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), Robert Floyd officially visited Slovakia for the first time since he took office. In the morning, ES Floyd accompanied by the Chairperson of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic M. Žiaková met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs J. Blanár and then with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the Slovak Republic R. Kaliňák.

The visit continued at the Slovak Academy of Sciences with meeting with the Vice-Chairman M. Venhart, followed by an excursion at the CTBTO National Data Centre which is run by the Earth Science Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. In the afternoon, ES Floyd visited the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics of the Comenius University in Bratislava (FMFI UK) and met with the Vice-Rector for Science and Doctoral Studies of the Comenius University J. Masarik. The visit to FMFI UK also included a visit to the tandem accelerator of ions.  Finally, ES Floyd gave a popular-science lecture by the under the topic “ The importance of the global ban on nuclear testing ” at the FMFI UK.

The discussions during the CTBTO ES´s visit reflected on the long-standing cooperation between Slovakia and the Provisional Technical Secretariat (PTS) of the CTBTO, mainly in field of On-Site Inspections, on raising awareness among the wider scientific community of the possibilities of using data from the CTBTO´s International Data Center (IDC) databases for analytical and scientific purposes, and on exploring avenues for enhancing cooperation in field of atmospheric modelling or computer modelling of radionuclides spreading in liquids. Slovakia reiterated its strong support to the activities of the Provisional Technical Secretariat (PTS) of the CTBTO in fulfilling its mandate and advancing the CTBT´s objectives and its verification regime.

Note: The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 September 1996, and opened for signature in New York on 24 September 1996. The Treaty bans all nuclear explosions on Earth (in the atmosphere, underwater or underground). Despite strong international support, the Treaty has not yet entered into force. Until that time, the Preparatory Commission of the CTBTO (PrepCom) based in Vienna is in charge. It consists of a plenary body and several working groups composed of all State Parties, and the Provisional Technical Secretariat (PTS). PrepCom performs the necessary preparatory work towards an effective implementation of the CTBT. One of PrepCom‘s main tasks is to build the global verification regime of the Treaty, capable of detecting and characterizing any nuclear explosion anywhere on Earth.