13 Nov 2010

JORDAN / NUCLEAR EXERCISE

Earlier this month, an international team inspected a simulated nuclear test site, near the Dead Sea in Jordan. The goal of the exercise, which was conducted from 1-12 November, was to determine whether a fictitious nuclear test, in violation of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) that outlaws all nuclear explosions, took place in the area.

Posted at: November 13, 2010 12:01 am

Duration: 06:06

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: JORDAN / NUCLEAR EXERCISE
TRT: 6.06
SOURCE: PREPARATORY COMMISSION FOR THE COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREAT ORGANIZATION (CTBTO)
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 4, 5, 8 NOVEMBER, DEAD SEA, AL-HADITHA, AL-MUJIB RESERVE, JORDAN

SHOTLIST:

4 NOVEMBER 2010, BASE OF OPERATIONS, AL-HADITHA, JORDAN

1. Pan right, from kids playing football on the street to base of operation with men working on roof to complete installation of satellite
2. Various shots satellite dish installed at Base of Operation 
3. Wide shot, sunset at Base of Operations

5 NOVEMBER 2010, BASE OF OPERATIONS, AL-HADITHA, JORDAN

4. Tilt down, inspectors start preparations inside base of operation
5. Med shot, three inspectors watch intently
6. Wide shot, inspectors being briefed
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Luis Gaya-Pique, Exercise Team Leader, Visual Observation:
"The inspector knows that there has been a trigger event. That has been a earthquake according to the inspecting State Party, but according to the requesting Sate Party that earthquake was hiding something else, like a kind of explosion. So of course the inspectors have been provided with this information they know that in this area there is plenty of earthquakes, they know that there are many explosions related to scientific purposes but here they are trying to figure out if there is something hidden there."
8. Med shot, inspector prints off large maps on a plotter
9. Close up, large map printed
10. Various shot, inspectors use short wave radios 
11. Various shots, large antenna and high frequency receiving device lifted by group of men on SUV

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Ashraf Abushady, Exercise Team Leader, Communications:
"We need to keep contact with our inspectors in the field at all times. So when we are talking about the scenario of an onsite inspection there is basically no kind of infrastructure in the field that we are operating in so we cannot rely on cellular phone coverage, so what you can see there it is in a way like a giant cell phone."
13. Med shot, inspector's arms extended as he lifts antenna
14. Various shots, looking down on car as it's fitted with tracking device
15. Various shots: inspectors receive final briefings

8 NOVEMBER 201, AL-MUJIB RESERVE

16. Wide shot, mountainous desert
17. Various shots, three SUV driving up a dusty mountainous road in convoy
20. Med Shot, fault in rocks 
21. Wide shot, desert mountains
22. Pan left, inspector stands at edge of mountain looking through binoculars
23. Med shot, craters (a suspicious indicator of a nuclear test) 
24. SOUNDBITE (English) Matjaz Prah, exercise Director
"Inspectors need to find observables or the signatures of the possible nuclear explosion. Here we are looking for the faults for the depression, possible creators, and quarries, anything that is unusual in such environment." 
25. Wide shot, numerous craters
26. Various shots, inspector on hill making notes
27. Wide shot, heard of sheep and goats walk past inspectors
28. Med shot, inspectors inside car looking through windscreen to convoy ahead

5 NOVEMBER 2010, BASE OF OPERATION, AL-HADITHA, JORDAN

29. Med shot, man with radio headset speaks to convoy via radio from base of operation
30. Various shots, animated 3D map showing the inspection Zone (50k from Amman extending to Karak) and car convoy on map travelling
31. Various shots, inspectors in flat desert landscape discussing landslides.
32. Pan left, from rocky hill to three inspectors examining area

STORYLINE:

SOUNDBITE (English) Luis Gaya-Pique, Exercise Team Leader, Visual Observation:
"The inspector knows that there has been a triggering event. That there has been an earthquake according to the inspecting State Party, but according to the requesting Sate Party that earthquake was hiding something else, like a kind of explosion. So of course the inspectors have been provided with this information they know that in this area there is plenty of earthquakes, they know that there are many explosions related to scientific purposes but here they are trying to figure out if there is something hidden there."

The team of 35 international experts were assembled by the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Test ban Treat Organization (CTBTO) for the simulation. Their challenge was to assess if there was or not a nuclear test within a 1000 square km area south of Amman extending to Karak, the inspection site for the simulation.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ashraf Abushady, Team Leader, Communications Exercise: 
"We need to keep contact with our inspectors in the field at all times. So when we are talking about the scenario of an onsite inspection there is basically no kind of infrastructure in the field that we are operating in so we cannot rely on cellular phone coverage, so what you can see there it is in a way like a giant cell phone."

All high frequency and short wave communications were encrypted. The inspectors were tracked at the base of operations in Al-Haditha and back at the CTBTO´s Vienna headquarters. The role-play was focused to test communications in the field and ground visual observation.

Jordan offered to host the exercise and was selected due to comparable natural geological features within the inspection area that could be found, if in fact, there had been a nuclear test. The area around the Dead Sea is ideal because of its very specific geological features, like sinkholes for example, which can look similar to the depressions that are formed after a nuclear test.

SOUNDBITE (English) Matjaz Prah, exercise Director
"Inspectors need to find observables or the signatures of the possible nuclear explosion. Here we are looking for the faults for the depression, possible creators, and quarries, anything that is unusual in such environment."

On-site inspections are the final layer in the Treaty's verification regime to make sure that no nuclear explosion goes undetected. Facts gathered directly on the ground during an inspection help States to establish whether or not a nuclear explosion did indeed take place. On-site inspections can be requested only after the Treaty enters into force.

182 countries have signed the CTBT, of which 153 have also ratified it, including three of the nuclear weapons states, France, Russia and the UK.

The Treaty, which bans all nuclear explosions in all environments, will enter into force 180 days after all 44 states listed in Annex 2 have signed it.

So far, three of the Annex 2 states have not signed the treaty, while nine have not ratified it, including Egypt, Iran and Israel as well as the US.