The Government of the Azores, through the Regional Secretariat for Science, Technology and Infrastructures, is satisfied with the international certification of the Radionuclide RN53 Station, implemented on the island of São Miguel to monitor nuclear tests, likewise the infrasound IS42 station on the island of Graciosa that has been recently installed and certified.

Both stations, integrated in the international network of CTBTO (Preparatory Commission of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation) have received the international certification by the International Monitoring System Division of the Provisional Technical Secretariat (PTS) based in Vienna.
The PTS team was in the Azores to evaluate the infrastructures as well as the equipments of the RN53 and IS42 stations.

Integrated in the global observation network, the certified Radionuclide Station, such as the Graciosa station, provides information for the international data centre headquartered in Vienna, Austria.
The Graciosa monitoring station, an investment of about two million Euros, was established with the purpose of ensuring the compliance with the provisions in the Treaty on the prohibition of nuclear tests, thus becoming into a means to boost scientific research projects based on high-end technologies.

The Regional Secretary for Science, Technology and Infrastructures has conveyed his satisfaction with this latest certification considering it as a  “structuring and qualifying project for Azores because it highlights once more the position of the Azores in a very important global network.”
It should be noted that the maintenance and operation of the Graciosa station is carried out by the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Risk Assessment of the University of the Azores (CVARG).