Nuclear powers urged to slash arsenals

The report sets a goal of cutting the number of nuclear weapons from 23,000 to 2,000. (Reuters: Mian Khursheed, file photo)

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has released a report which calls on the United States and Russia to cut their nuclear arsenals by 90 per cent within 15 years.

The report warns the risk of nuclear catastrophe is as significant as the threat of climate change and is the culmination of 18 months work by the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND)

The report sets a goal of cutting the number of nuclear weapons around the globe from 23,000 to 2,000 by the year 2025.

Commission chairman Gareth Evans say the plan rests on the cooperation of Russia and the United States.

"That's critical because between them they have 95 per cent of the world's nuclear warheads," Mr Evans said.

"It means the Russians coming down from 13,500, the Americans coming down from 9,000 to 500, and everybody else not increasing from where they are at the moment."

The report also calls for talks on a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East and for a successful review next year of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

Mr Rudd launched the commission's report in Tokyo with the Japanese Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama.

Anti-nuclear campaigners say they are disappointed the report does not aim for nuclear weapons to be completely eliminated within 15 years.

Dimity Hawkins from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons says the report does not go far enough.

"It would still leave about 20 times the number of nuclear weapons capable of causing massive climate change and trigger a catastrophic famine in the world," Mr Hawkins said.

"If we give permission or are seen to be endorsing any nuclear weapon state to maintain an arsenal, then those questions will be raised by those other states who will ask 'well, why can't we have one as well?'"