SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
France urged to apologise for Polynesia nuclear tests
Paris, June 17 (AFP) Jun 17, 2025
Paris should apologise to French Polynesia for the fallout of nuclear tests there over three decades, which led to harmful radiation exposure, a French parliamentary report released on Tuesday said.

France conducted 193 nuclear tests in French Polynesia from 1966, especially at the Pacific archipelago's Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls, to help build up its atomic weapon arsenal. These included atmospheric and underground tests which had severe health impacts.

Tens of thousands of people in the French overseas territory are estimated to have been exposed to harmful levels of radiation, leading to a significant public health crisis that has been largely ignored.

The tests remain a source of deep resentment in French Polynesia, where they are seen as evidence of racist colonial attitudes that disregarded the lives of islanders.

"The inquiry has strengthened the committee's conviction that a request for forgiveness from France to French Polynesia is necessary," the report said.

"This request is not merely a symbol, nor a request for repentance. It must be a... fundamental step in the process of reconciliation between French Polynesia and the State," the authors said.

The report said the apology must be added to a 2004 law on French Polynesia's semi-autonomous status.

Residents in the south Pacific Ocean islands are hoping for compensation for radiation victims.

The investigative website Disclose, citing declassified French military documents on the nearly 200 tests, reported in March that the impact from the fallout was far more extensive than authorities let on.

Only a few dozen civilians have been compensated for radiation exposure since the tests ended in 1996, Disclose said.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Mars glaciers are purer and more uniform than previously thought
Curiosity Rovers Boxwork Campaign Reaches New Heights on Mount Sharp
Skyfall Mars helicopter fleet to scout future astronaut landing sites

24/7 Energy News Coverage
MicroCarb satellite launches to map global carbon dioxide emissions from space
Chemistry breakthroughs open new frontiers in industrial carbon capture
Rollable solar array by GalaxySpace redefines satellite compactness and power efficiency

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
BlackSky to supply satellite imagery and analytics for Latin American security operations
GovSat selects Thales Alenia Space to build secure satellite for military communications
SES and Luxembourg to expand military satcom with next generation GovSat2

24/7 News Coverage
One billion years of protein evolution reveals surprising design flexibility
MetOp Second Generation satellite fully fuelled ahead of August launch
We tracked illegal fishing in marine protected areas - satellites and AI show most bans are respected, and could help enforce future ones



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.