U.S. Senate candidate Mike Lee said Wednesday he would likely vote to ratify an international treaty banning nuclear weapons tests, arguing it would serve the nation's strategic interests and still provide flexibility to protect its security.

"I don't think we need [nuclear testing] and I think, on the whole, we as Americans would be safer if that treaty were in place," said Lee, who last week said he would be open to the resumption of underground nuclear tests.

The Republican candidate said his support of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty hinges on opt-out language in Article 9 of the treaty that allows nations to resume testing if it is deemed to be in their national security interests.

"I don't think we currently have any need for detonation testing. I think there's a possibility that need could arise in the future and I don't want to take that possibility off the table should it become necessary," he said.

His challenger for the Republican Senate nomination, Tim Bridgewater, said he would not support ratification of the test ban treaty.

"I disagree with those ... who would take the option off the table completely," Bridgewater said.

He said that, when countries like North Korea pursue testing and weapons development, a time may come when underground testing is necessary.

"I think in absolute terms I wouldn't support the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty because of that position. I think it would be inconsistent to do otherwise," Bridgewater said.

The United States hasn't conducted a nuclear weapons test since 1992, when President George H.W. Bush imposed a moratorium. Fallout from hundreds of detonations at the Nevada Test Site are believed to have killed or sickened thousands of Utahns, including the fathers of both Lee and Bridgewater.

President Bill Clinton signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty four years later, but the Senate rejected the treaty. Both Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett voted against the treaty.

Hatch said at the time the treaty would "lower confidence in our strategic deterrent while creating an international regime that does not guarantee an increase in this country's security." He said it did not prevent nations pursuing weapons from continuing their efforts and relied on unproven science to maintain the existing weapons stockpile.

President Barack Obama is pushing for ratification of one nuclear arms treaty -- The New START Treaty, which would reduce the number of deployed nuclear warheads -- by the end of the year, possibly before Congress' August recess.

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty could follow sometime next year, when either Bridgewater or Lee or their Democratic opponent, Sam Granato, will be Utah's new senator. Bennett lost his re-election bid at the May 8 state Republican Convention.

Vanessa Pierce, executive director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, praised Lee for supporting the test ban.
"I think Mike Lee has shown he's really giving some thoughtful consideration to this issue and I think the world is safer with a ban on nuclear testing," she said.

"It preserves our advantage in terms of what we know about nuclear weapons and their behavior, because the United States has conducted more tests than all of the rest of the world combined, and it prevents other nations like China and India and Pakistan from" developing new weapons.