5 - Nuclear Free - Antarctica cannot be used for testing nuclear weapons, at the time of start of the treaty, test explosions were being carried out in the South Pacific and there was a chance that as Antarctica was largely deserted they could be carried out there too.

Neither is Antarctica to be used for the disposal of nuclear waste. For ten years from 1962 there was a small nuclear reactor at the McMurdo base, this was removed and the area around it decontaminated as the reactor had developed hairline cracks and leaks. No other nuclear reactor has been taken to Antarctica.

Right hand picture, plaque above McMurdo station.

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Antarctic Treaty overview  |  more "quick looks"

McMurdo plaque picture courtesy Sergey Tarasenko, used under CC3, attribution, share-alike unported licence, cropped from original.