Hui Zhang

August 1999

Potential Application of Commercial Observation Satellite Imagery for the Verification of Declared and Undeclared Nuclear Production Facilities

Book Chapter

By Hui Zhang, Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom

Negotiations on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT) will soon be underway at the Committee on Disarmament in Geneva, and will include detailed attention to how such a treaty could be verified. This paper explains how commercial observation satellites can be effective in verifying that reactors used to produce weapons plutonium in the past are kept in a shutdown status under a cutoff treaty or moratorium. The satellites considered are the new-generation satellites with fine spatial resolution images in the visible and near infrared band complemented by thermal infrared images with lower-spatial resolution but good temperature resolution. These satellites can also contribute to the detection of undeclared nuclear-reactor sites and suspicious construction activities.