Chapter Five The Legacy of French Nuclear Testing in the Pacific

Abstract

The French began a nuclear testing program in the Pacific in the 1960s and completed it in the 1990s. This Chapter examines the legacy of French nuclear testing in the Pacific, which, after thirty years of governmental denial, is beginning to come to light. The French nuclear testing program was completed in 1998; the total yield of the French nuclear tests between 1966 and 1996 was approximately 13.5 Mt, a much smaller amount than the 170 Mt produced by the U.S. and the U.K. nuclear tests in the Pacific between 1946 and 1962. All nuclear testing facilities were dismantled in 1998, with only thirty Legionnaires remaining on Mururoa Atoll to monitor radioactivity, monitor geological movements and prevent intrusion. The uncertainty pertaining to the migration rate of radioactive particles present in the shafts is reinforced by the absence of precise data concerning the depth at which underground tests were performed. Keywords: French nuclear testing; Mururoa; Pacific; thirty Legionnaires