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Nuclear-free zone
A nuclear-free zone is an area in which nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants are banned. The specific ramifications of these depend on the locale in question, but are generally distinct from nuclear-weapon-free zones, in that the latter only bans nuclear weapons but may permit nuclear power.
Nuclear-free zones usually neither address nor prohibit radiopharmaceuticals used in nuclear medicine even though many of them are produced in nuclear reactors. They typically do not prohibit other nuclear technologies such as cyclotrons used in particle physics.
Several sub-national authorities worldwide have declared themselves "nuclear-free". However, the label is often symbolic, as nuclear policy is usually determined and regulated at higher levels of government: nuclear weapons and components may traverse nuclear-free zones via military transport without the knowledge or consent of local authorities which had declared nuclear-free zones.
Palau became the first nuclear-free nation in 1980.[1] New Zealand was the first Western-allied nation to legislate towards a national nuclear free zone by effectively renouncing the nuclear deterrent.[2]
- ^ Clark, Roger; Roff, Sue Rabbitt (1984). Micronesia: the problem of Palau (Rev. ed.). London: Minority Rights Group. p. 13. ISBN 9780946690145.
- ^ Lange, David (1990). Nuclear Free: The New Zealand Way. New Zealand: Penguin Books.
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