HindustanTimes.com

Wednesday, September 24, 2003

New Zealand to build nuclear test monitoring station in Fiji

Associated Press
Wellington, September 24

New Zealand is to build a nuclear test monitoring station in Fiji after
signing a contract with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation on
Wednesday.

Health Minister Annette King signed the contract on behalf of the government
for the station to be sited at Nadi, a town in the west of the main Fiji
island of Viti Levu.

New Zealand's National Radiation Laboratory will build the USD 595,000
station as part of a worldwide network of 321 monitoring facilities designed
to help enforce the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

The Nadi station will be one of four monitoring stations operated by the
laboratory. Two are in New Zealand and another in the Cook Islands.

New Zealand has a long history of anti-nuclear policies, which includes
opposing French nuclear testing in the South Pacific for nearly 30 years.
It remains the only nation to pass laws banning nuclear arms and
nuclear-powered vessels from its territory, a move deeply unpopular with
nuclear powers the United States and Britain.

The test ban treaty, signed by more than 160 countries including New
Zealand, is intended to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons and lead
to disarmament.

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