Nuclear-weapon-free zone

Treaty-defined zone in which nuclear weapons are prohibited

Pelindaba Africa 30,221,532 53 2009-07-15 All NWFZs combined: 84,000,000 114 39% of the world population Nuclear weapons states

41,400,000 9 47% of the world population Neither NWS nor NWFZ 24,000,000 74 14% of the world population

A nuclear-weapon-free zone (NWFZ) is defined by the

nuclear waste and nuclear propulsion

, and usually does not mean a UN-acknowledged international treaty.

The NWFZ definition does not count countries or smaller regions that have outlawed nuclear weapons simply by their own law, like

2+4 Treaty, which led to German reunification, banned nuclear weapons in the new states of Germany (Berlin and former East Germany

), but was an agreement only among the six signatory countries, without formal NWFZ mechanisms.

Geographic scope

See also: Nuclear-free zone § Nuclear-free zone by geographical areas

Today there are five zones covering

having nuclear-weapon-free status

.

NWFZs do not cover

nuclear missiles through space (as opposed to deployment of nuclear weapons in space

).

As of 15 July 2009[update] when the

nuclear weapons states

have 28% of the world's land area and 46% of the world population.

The Antarctic, Latin American, and South Pacific zones are defined by lines of

OAU (now the African Union) which include islands close to Africa and Madagascar. An AU member, Mauritius, claims the British Indian Ocean Territory where Diego Garcia is currently a US military base

.

Nuclear power in NWFZ states

Nuclear power

Country	Plants
Argentina	3
Brazil	2
Mexico	2
South Africa	2

Further information: nuclear power by country

See also: Enriched uranium § Global enrichment facilities

Four NWFZ countries have nuclear plants to generate electricity. South Africa formerly had a nuclear weapons program which it terminated in 1989.

Argentina and Brazil are known to operate

uranium enrichment facilities. Countries that had enrichment programs in the past include Libya and South Africa, although Libya's facility was never operational. Australia has announced its intention to pursue commercial enrichment, and is actively researching laser enrichment

.

Argentina and Brazil also have plans to build nuclear submarines.

Protocols for non-member states

Territories of outside states within NWFZs

Treaty	British	French	American	Dutch
Tlatelolco	S. Georgia	Guyane Guadeloupe, Martinique St. Barthélemy, St. Martin	USMOI	Aruba, Curaçao Sint Maarten Caribbean Netherlands
Rarotonga	Pitcairn Island	Polynésie, Wallis&Futuna Nouvelle-Calédonie	Samoa, Jarvis Island
Pelindaba	Indian Ocean Territory	Réunion, Mayotte Îles Éparses

Several of the NWFZ treaties have protocols under which states outside the zone that have territories within the zone can bring the provisions of the NWFZ into force for those territories. All these territories are small islands except for

African NWFZ is applicable to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia which has a U.S. military base

.

Southern Hemisphere

oceanic islands in this area are owned by Britain, France, Norway, and Maldives and are the only Southern Hemisphere lands other than East Timor

that are not in a NWFZ.

Few

fallout to the Southern Hemisphere

.

The five southern NWFZs together cover all land in the Southern Hemisphere except

in the process of joining ASEAN, and Atlantic and Indian Ocean islands belonging to non-NWFZ countries in the box (map) bounded by 60° S, 20° W, and 115° E

, which combined have less than 8000 km² of land area:

• British overseas territory
• Bouvet Island, a Norwegian territory
• French Southern Territories
• Chagos Islands (British Indian Ocean Territory) including Diego Garcia
  (disputed by Mauritius)
• Addu and Fuvahmulah, southernmost atolls of the Maldives

In 1994 states of the

U.N. General Assembly endorsed but the U.S., U.K., and France still opposed.^[5]

Tropics

Northern Hemisphere tropical lands not in a NWFZ

Region	All of	Parts of
Pacific	Marianas, FSM, Marshalls, Palau	Hawaii (all but NW), USMOI
Arabia	Yemen	UAE, and Oman
South Asia	Maldives, Sri Lanka	Peninsular India, Bangladesh
East Asia	Hainan	Yunnan, Guangdong/Xi, Taiwan

The Latin American, African, South Pacific and Southeast Asian zones also cover most land in the tropics, but not some Northern Hemisphere areas south of the Tropic of Cancer. Most tropical land outside of NWFZs is in India and the Arabian Peninsula.

Little of the land area covered by the five southern Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones extends north of the Tropic of Cancer: only northern

North Temperate Zone

.

Northern Hemisphere

Non-Proliferation Treaty

The majority of non-NWS non-NWFZ states are in Europe and the North Pacific and are members of (or surrounded by) collective security alliances with nuclear weapons states dating from the Cold War and predating the NWFZ movement.

Twenty-two states are not part of a NWFZ or a collective security bloc nor nuclear weapons states, twelve in the Middle East, six in South Asia, and four in the former Soviet Union. There have been NWFZ proposals for the

The UK, France, and the USA share a nuclear umbrella with the 29 other members of NATO, and the four European Union states not part of NATO (Austria, Cyprus, Ireland, Malta) are part of the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy.

The other

NATO also extends to Turkey and Canada.

Former Soviet Union

South Korea and Japan are American allies under its nuclear umbrella, while the three Micronesian states (Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau) are in a Compact of Free Association with the US.

South Asia

India and Pakistan are nuclear-armed states and the six other

The six Gulf Cooperation Council states, the 5 other Arab League states outside Africa (Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq), and Iran (see Nuclear program of Iran) are not nuclear weapons states and not part of a NWFZ. The UN General Assembly has urged establishment of a Middle East NWFZ,^[10] and NPT Review Conferences in 1995 and 2010 called for a zone free of all weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.^[11][12][13] An International Conference For A WMD-Free Middle East was held in Haifa in December 2013 attended by citizens from all over the world concerned about the lack of progress in the official talks.

See also

• Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents
• Nuclear disarmament
• Prevention of nuclear catastrophe
• Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
• Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
•  Nuclear technology portal

References