WASHINGTON (AP) -- An expert panel has found that the U.S. can maintain its nuclear arsenal without resuming testing, addressing a key issue in the debate over Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

The National Academy of Sciences panel also says that global monitoring networks would likely detect even relatively small nuclear blasts in most of the world, despite concerns about cheating. The Senate rejected the treaty in 1999 due to fears that it would prevent the U.S. from maintaining its arsenal and could not be verified.

The panel's report, released Friday, focused on technical issues and did not take a position on the treaty. But it appeared to support the Obama administration's arguments that the test ban is verifiable and doesn't prevent maintenance of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.