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Since 1966 In the Polynesian atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufa, France secretly embarked on a nuclear testing program, a secret military program that lasted 30 years and involved almost 200 nuclear explosions, until it all ended in massive protests in 1996.
A new two-year study by an international team of security researchers, data scientists and investigative journalists analyzed some 2,000 pages of documents now declassified by the French government and military.
In addition, the headlines interviewed dozens of stakeholders, including Polynesians, ex-military and scientists, to get a clearer picture of the 193 nuclear tests carried out in Moruroa and Fangataufa, which until now have been shrouded in secrecy and bureaucracy. .
Using a new 3D model based on data from populated regions where radioactive sediments were found after the explosions, the report presents uncomfortable and shocking conclusions.
“We estimate that, based on a scientific reassessment of the doses received, 110,000 people were affected, that is, almost the entire Polynesian population at that time,” the researchers said.
Documentary evidence suggests that contamination of populated areas with radioactive particles has been the cause of the increase in cancer cases.
Although many unsafe tests were conducted in the early years of the program, the more powerful weapons launched in the 1970s posed an even greater risk to the population of French Polynesia in 1971 and 1974. The tests scattered huge clouds of radioactive particles blown over residential areas, and residents were never warned.
Military scientists at the time knew that contamination in the soil, air, and drinking water posed a serious risk, especially for vulnerable children, many of whom developed cancer in recent years after testing.
However, even when weather forecasts indicated that the wind would carry toxic clouds to the inhabited islands, officials did not delay the tests. An estimated 110,000 Polynesians were exposed to high doses of radiation in 1974 after the Centaure bomb exploded. At that time, the total population of French Polynesia was 125,000.
To date, only 454 people have received compensation from the French government for the health effects of the tests, and authorities have rejected more than 80 percent. claim (es.
According to the new findings, tens of thousands of people can now legally claim compensation for these past abuses.
“There are around 110,000 people, not 10,000, as local health authorities suspect, who could claim compensation from the French state if they develop one of the recognized cancers,” the researchers wrote.
The nuclear bomb tests did not only affect the local population. According to e-mail correspondence from the French Defense Ministry, an estimated 2,000 of the 6,000 military and civilians who participated in the tests were also affected and “already had or were about to develop radiation-induced cancer.”
Most of the data evaluated by the scientists comes from now declassified and open access sources. The researchers provided detailed information on their methodology and committed to sharing their findings with the public and the scientific community.
