North Korea’s 2009 Nuclear Test: Containment, Monitoring, Implication
"On May 25, 2009, North Korea announced that it had conducted its second underground nuclear
test. Unlike its first test, in 2006, there is no public record that the second one released radioactive materials indicative of a nuclear explosion. How could North Korea have contained these
materials from the May 2009 event and what are the implications?

As background, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) would ban all nuclear
explosions. It was opened for signature in 1996. Entry into force requires ratification by 44 states
specified in the treaty, including the United States and North Korea. As of November 2010, 153
states, including 35 of the 44, had ratified. North Korea has not signed the CTBT. President
Clinton signed it in 1996; in 1999, the Senate voted not to consent to its ratification. In 2009,
President Obama pledged to press for its ratification..."