Hollande admits decades of nuclear testing in Pacific had impact on health

French President Francois Hollande has acknowledged that three decades of nuclear tests in French Polynesia had “an impact” on health and the environment and promised a review of the victim compensation process. Mr Hollande’s remarks, made on a visit to the French Polynesian capital, are the clearest admission yet of the damage caused by the testing programme. “I recognise that the nuclear tests between 1966 and 1996 in French Polynesia have had an environmental impact, causing health consequences,” Mr Hollande said in Papeete while on a tour of the Pacific.

The processing of applications for compensation for victims of nuclear tests will be reviewed.

French President Francois Hollande

Some 150,000 civilian and military personnel took part in 210 nuclear tests carried out between 1960 and 1996 by France in the Pacific and the Sahara desert. Many of them later developed serious health problems. France for decades denied its responsibility for fear the admission would weaken its nuclear programme during the Cold War. French Polynesia, with a population of about 280,000, is one of three French territories in the Pacific.

Hollande nuclear