Civilian scientists are strongly criticizing the federal government for saying that a seismic event that rocked the Russian wilds two months ago might have been an underground nuclear blast.
The scientists say that the tremor was unquestionably natural in origin, and they suggest that bureaucratic foes of the nuclear test ban treaty are distorting the truth in a bid to torpedo the treaty’s ratification in the Senate.
A nuclear test would violate the global accord signed by Moscow that outlaws such detonations.
“This test scare should be investigated by Congress and the president,” Jeremy Stone, president of the Federation of American Scientists, said Monday.
The federation, a private group in Washington, advocates arms control.
Lynn Sykes, a seismologist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and an authority on detecting nuclear blasts with sensitive instruments that monitor ground vibrations, said he had canvassed peers around the world and could find none who believed the event was nuclear.
“We need an investigation,” Sykes said. “This is a crucial time for the test ban, and this issue is absolutely central to whether it appears verifiable. There are a number of people in government who claim we cannot tell if it was a blast or an earthquake.”
The treaty has been signed by 146 nations, including the United States, Russia, China and the other declared nuclear powers. The administration recently sent the treaty for ratification to the Senate, which is not expected to act soon.
In late August, the Clinton administration said that it had evidence that Russia might have detonated a nuclear weapon on a remote island in the Kara Sea, an arm of the Arctic Ocean, and that it was investigating the matter and seeking an explanation from Moscow.
Russia denied that it had conducted a nuclear blast and reaffirmed its commitment to the test ban.
