The Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) was signed by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union in Moscow on August 5, 1963. Ending more than eight years of negotiations, the LTBT prohibits nuclear weapons tests or other explosions in the atmosphere, outer space, or underwater. While the treaty does not ban underground nuclear explosions, it does prohibit tests if they would cause "radioactive debris to be present outside the territorial limits of the State under whose jurisdiction or control" the explosions were conducted. In addition, by signing on to the treaty the countries agreed to the goal of "the discontinuance of all test explosions of nuclear weapons for all time."

Emergent History

After the end of World War II, Great Britain and the Soviet Union joined the United States in the nuclear club and the United States and the...