House Gives Unanimous Support to Ratifying Test Ban Treaty

03.09.2010 by Jeff Robinson

(KCPW News) In a rare display of across-the-board bipartisanship, the Utah House passed a resolution urging the U.S. Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty on Monday.  Democratic Sponsor Representative Jennifer Seelig noted that nuclear weapons can now be tested through computer modeling.

“Advances in scientific understanding and the processing power of computers, in addition to the data obtained from the over one thousand previous nuclear weapons tests have enabled key experiments to stand in for explosive tests to supply crucial data,” she said.

Seelig also pointed out that the treaty doesn’t address nuclear power development, only weapons.  It was signed by the United States in 1996, but still hasn’t been ratified.

The issue hits home here in Utah, where residents were exposed to radiation from the Nevada Test Site during the mid-20th Century.  Republican Representative Mike Noel said the federal government misled people into believing they wouldn’t be harmed by the testing.

“Essentially they said it’s benign, it’s not going to hurt you, and so people went out to watch that red glow,” he said.

Noel said the U.S. needs to make an effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons.  The resolution passed 72-to-0.