ABSTRACT
Nuclear weapons pose an intolerable threat to tall humanity and its habitat, yet tens of thousands remain in arsenals built up at an extraordinary time of deep antagonism. The end of the Cold War has created a new climate for international action to eliminate nuclear weapons, a new opportunity. It must be exploited quickly or it will be lost. Nuclear weapon states should take all nuclear forces off alert status and so reduce dramatically the chance of an accidental or unauthorised nuclear weapons launch. A key element of non-proliferation arrangements for a nuclear weapon free world be a highly developed capacity to detect undeclared nuclear activity at both declared and undeclared sites. Nuclear weapon free zones are part of the architecture that can usefully encourage and support a nuclear weapon free world. The Canberra Commission is persuaded that immediate and determined efforts need to be made to rid the world of nuclear weapons and the threat they pose to it.
