New Zealand had to support a lot of countries while they were testing nukes and these were big countries. Three countries wanted to test in New Zealand/Pacific waters they were the US, UK and France. In this essay I am going to tell you about how New Zealand became nuclear free.

The first nuclear testing in waters near New Zealand was by the British and that happened from 1957-1958. This operation was codenamed operation Grapple. New Zealand ships were sent out to watch the blast or monitor the weather so the testing could go ahead. If you were in one of those boats watching the nuclear blast, you would be able to see the bones in your hands when the bomb went off. The testing was not good for the islands around it because of all the nuclear radiation. The reason the UK wanted to test these weapons is because they needed a nuclear arsenal and they had nowhere else to test so they called on New Zealand.

By 1973, the New Zealand government changed opinions on nuclear testing. People started getting scared of a nuclear fallout happening and the voices of the Pacific people were more clear and scared for their land. This is when the first protests started happening. All the countries that were nuclear testing in the Pacific made a treaty that prohibited nuclear testing in the area. But when France declared it would be undertaking nuclear testing there was a major global concern

New Zealand people started disliking nuke testing when people were getting affected. Nuclear ships from the US started coming to New Zealand, this sparked resistance and there were a lot of protests. New Zealand's government had to protect the safety of the protesters and the US ships, which was a challenge. In 1984 there was a new government coming into power and they did not like nuclear weapons. Basically all the protests were in our waters when people sailed little and medium sized ships to stop boats with nuclear weapons from coming into our harbours. There were many different protests but the main four were the stopping of the USS Texas, USS Haddow, USS Phoenix and the USS Pintado

The main thing that triggered the people of New Zealand was the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior. It was embarking on a protest against French testing in the Pacific. The attack was aimed to neutralise the Rainbow Warrior from leading the protest. But it only made the efforts of the New Zealand protests better and more powerful. The relationship between France and New Zealand weakened and France had to pay 18 million dollars to New Zealand. Also, the French divers who planted the bomb where released from there sentence in jail. In 1987 the government announced to pass the New Zealand nuclear free zone, disarmament and arms control act in continuation of its nuclear-free status policy.

Now you will know how New Zealand became nuclear free in the steps I have told you and it all started with an atomic bomb getting dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was one event that led to many dramatic events in the world and here in New Zealand. I hope this essay informed you about the events that led to New Zealand being nuclear free.