Paris talks assess impact of 30 years of nuclear testing in French Polynesia
France has begun two days of round table talks on the consequences of 30 years of nuclear testing in French Polynesia.
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Bringing together elected officials, ministers and NGOs from both France and Polynesia, the talks – being held in Paris – were arranged by the French government in an effort to “share information without taboo”.
They come four months after an independent investigation by journalists and researchers found that France hid the devastating impacts of its nuclear tests during the 1960s and 1970s.
More than 2,000 pages of declassified Defence Ministry documents were analysed by journalists from the French news site Disclose, and researchers from Princeton University and the British group Interprt.
By studying the so-called “Mururoa Files" and interviewing dozens of people in both France and French Polynesia, the team reconstructed the radiation effects of three major nuclear tests: Aldébaran in 1966, Encelade in 1971, and Centaure in 1974.
'State denial'
They concluded that that France had underestimated, sometimes deliberately, the impact of the tests – and that radiation levels were up to 10 times higher than those estimated by France’s Atomic Energy Commission in 2006.
"You can't erase 60 years of state propaganda, denial, intimidation, contempt and arrogance with a wave of the hand," said Polynesian President Edouard Fritch, who asked for the talks to be held.
Macron is expected to make an appearance at Thursday’s session, led by Secretary of State to the Minister of the Armed Forces Geneviève Darrieussecq. Friday’s session, meanwhile, will be led by Health Minister Olivier Véran and Minister of Overseas Territories Sébastien Lecornu.
The government has promised that all Polynesians will be given access to archives and health data in “complete transparency”, but said it would also preserve “certain secrets” that could allow foreign powers to advance their ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons.
The two main Polynesian NGOs representing nuclear test victims declined to join the talks.
Decades of testing
France carried out 193 nuclear tests between 1960 and 1996, mostly on the atolls of Fangataufa and Mururoa.
At least 41 tests were conducted in the atmosphere instead of below the water level, with radioactive fallout from plutonium covering the entire French Polynesian territory.
The tug-of-war between Paris and the Polynesians over compensation for nuclear tests has continued for decades. So far, 63 Polynesian civilians have been compensated.
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