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Updated March 2009
Introduction
Forcibly incorporated into the USSR in 1940, Estonia was home to major Soviet nuclear and military facilities. After it regained its freedom in 1991, Tallinn dismantled many of the Soviet-era facilities, and joined international treaties, regimes, and organizations, including both NATO and the European Union in the spring of 2004.
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Nuclear
Estonia played an important role in both the civilian and military nuclear programs of the former Soviet Union. Its major facilities were the Sillamae Metal and Chemical Production Plant (Silmet), which milled uranium ore until 1990, when it began to focus exclusively on rare-earth metal production, and the Paldiski training reactor facility, which had two research reactors (now dismantled) that were used to train Soviet naval personnel to work on nuclear submarines. Estonia is party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and signed an Additional Protocol with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in April 2000.
Biological
Estonia acceded to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) in June 1993 and is a member of the Australia Group. There is no evidence to suggest that Tallinn possesses or is pursuing biological weapons capabilities.
Chemical
Estonia is a founding member of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and a member of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). It is also a member of the Australia Group. There is no evidence to suggest that Tallinn possesses or is pursuing chemical weapons.
Missile
Estonia does not possess or produce ballistic missiles and is a signatory to the International Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missiles.
This
material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and
does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently
verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2009
by MIIS.
