French Nuclear

FRENCH NUCLEAR TESTING
 The nature of French nuclear tests in the Pacific,

the international response, and the activities of
Greenpeace, including the ‘Rainbow Warrior’
incident.
FRENCH NUCLEAR TESTING
 France was the fourth country to join the ‘nuclear

club’ in 1960 when it successfully detonated a large
nuclear device in Algeria.
 The French conducted a total of 201 nuclear tests
over the course of their nuclear campaign from
1960 to 1996.
 Algeria at the time was a territory of the French, however
Algeria gained independence in July 1962, impacting testing.
• As a result of the independence, the French and the
Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic
comprised a treaty. Within this treaty one article stated
“Algeria concedes to France the use of certain air bases,
terrains, sites and military installations which are necessary
to it” for the space of 5 years.
 From 1960 to 1966 the French conducted 17 nuclear
weapons tests in the Algerian Sahara. Of these, 4 were
atmospheric and 13 were underground tests.
PACIFIC EXPERIMENTS
• By 1958 France was searching for alternative testing
sites outside of Algeria due to the potential political
problems.
• Overseas French islands were studied and the Islands
of Moruroa and Fangataufa in French Polynesia were
chosen in 1962. The French had hoped to utlise Algeria
until 1968 but abandoned this notion early.
 In 1966, following years of testing in Algeria, France set
up the Pacific Centre of Experimentation in French
Polynesia.
France have argued over decades of
testing that the tests were ‘clean’
Do we believe them?
MORUROA AND FANGATAUFA
• They are both Atolls in the Tuamotu Archipelago

 Moruroa was an uninhabited atoll, 1200 km from Tahiti
 The majority of tests conducted were underground test. As
a result significant cracking of the atolls took place.
 181 nuclear tests took place Moruroa and Fangateufa
 A 2014 report warned that the Moruroa Atoll was on the
verge of collapse due to the many holes which ripped into it
by underground testing carried out from 1974 onwards.
MORUROA
HEALTH EFFECTS
 In 2008 the French nuclear test veterans association conducted a survey of
more than 1000 veterans and found that 35% had one or more types of
cancer. They also found that 1 out of 5 infertile
 In 2002 a study of thyroid cancer sufferers in Tahiti who were diagnosed
between 1984 and 2002 established a statistical relationship between
cancer rates and the exposure of radioactive fallout from French nuclear
tests.
 Another study revealed an increase in thyroid cancer among people living
within 1,300km of the nuclear tests conducted on French Polynesian atolls.
 A study in 2017 revealed that Tahitians were exposed to plutonium fallout
that was 500 times over what was officially considered safe. This explains
the high proportions of cancer.
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSES
 Widespread opposition to French nuclear testing over the
decades.
 Both Australian and New Zealand took the French
Government to the International Court of Justice.
 On the 23rd of June 1973, the Court condemned French
atmospheric nuclear testing. The French ignored this ruling.
 However, mounting international pressure forced it to cease
testing in the atmosphere in 1974. The remainder of their
tests were carried out underground.
GREENPEACE
 Did you know Greenpeace originated as a protest to
underground nuclear testing conducted by the US on an
Island off Western Alaska.
 By 1985 Greenpeace was at the forefront of the activist
campaigns in the Pacific.
 Greenpeace actively sought to bring an end to Nuclear
testing, they were very active in the Pacific. So active to the
extent that they were constantly attacked and imprisoned.
 One of Greenpeace's ships the Rainbow Warrior was
deliberately sunk by two French agents in 1985.
 One of Greenpeace's ships the Rainbow Warrior was deliberately
sunk by two French agents in 1985 in a New Zealand harbour.
 This deliberate attack resulted in a deterioration in relations
between France and New Zealand.
 The failure of the US and Britain to condemn the terrorism act
contributed to the New Zealand pursuit of a fiercely independent
foreign policy.
 New Zealand came to pass the Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament,
and Arms Control Act in 1987. This prevented US nuclear-powered
vessels from visiting NZ ports.
 US retaliated downgrading NZ status as an ally in the ANZUS treaty.
 To this day NZ is at the forefront of global efforts for nuclear
disarmament.
VIDEO
 The Boat and the Bomb
 Make notes on the impact of French nuclear tests at

Moruroa, including the ‘Rainbow Warrior’ incident.
WRITING TASK
Question:
Develop a written response considering the

establishment and continued role of Greenpeace in
the Pacific.

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FRENCH NUCLEAR TESTING

 The nature of French nuclear tests in the Pacific,

 France was the fourth country to join the ‘nuclear

• They are both Atolls in the Tuamotu Archipelago

 The Boat and the Bomb

 Make notes on the impact of French nuclear tests at

Develop a written response considering the

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