France hid impact of French Polynesia nuclear tests, report says

Almost ‘entire population’ of the territory infected by tests carried out from 1966 to 1996, investigation claims. France has concealed the levels of radioactivity that French Polynesia was exposed to during French nuclear tests in the Pacific from 1966 to 1996, during which almost the “entire population” of the overseas territory was exposed, according to a report. Online investigation site Disclose said on Tuesday that it had analysed some 2,000 pages of French military documents declassified in 2013 by the defence ministry concerning nuclear tests on the archipelago. It said the investigation was able to reassess the thyroid exposure to radioactive doses of the inhabitants of the Gambier Islands, Tureia and Tahiti during the six nuclear tests considered to be the most contaminating in the history of French tests in the Pacific. Disclose said its interpretation of existing data resulted in estimates “between two and 10 times higher” than those by the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission in 2006.