What is "nuclear-free zone"

n. An area in which the local or regional authorities have banned nuclear weapons and nuclear power stations.

A nuclear-free zone is an area where nuclear weapons (see nuclear-weapon-free zone) and nuclear power plants are banned. The specific ramifications of these depend on the locale in question.

Nuclear free zones usually do not address nor prohibit radiopharmaceuticals used in nuclear medicine, even though many of these are produced in nuclear reactors. Nuclear Free Zones 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, this 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. New Zealand was the first Western-allied nation to legislate towards a national nuclear free zone, effectively renouncing the nuclear deterrent.