Mururoa Atoll The use of the Mururoa Atoll by the French for nuclear testing the role of government the impact on the indigenous people Role and Responsibility of Government 1768 The French sailed to Tahiti ID: 263369
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Slide1
Blowing Up Paradise
Mururoa
Atoll
The use of the
Mururoa
Atoll by the French for nuclear testing, the role of government, the impact on the indigenous people
Slide2Slide3
Role and Responsibility of Government
1768: The French sailed to Tahiti
1842: Tahiti became a French colony
Up until 1950 there were only 1500 French settlers in a total population of
75000
After World War II Tahiti was
classified as a French territory
An indigenous equal rights movement began, but it was crushed by the French government
Slide4
1954, the French Prime Minister decided to build the atomic bomb
13
th
February 1960, first atomic bomb detonated in Algeria
Algeria became independent, so France had to search for a new test sight
Mururoa was chosen
The US and Russia and Britain signed an agreement in 1963 to ban
nulcear
testing in the atmosphere, under water and in space. France did not.Slide5
Impact on Indigenous People
Mururoa Atoll and
Fangataufa
Atoll were surrounded by inhabited islands.
The French government were warned that about 7000 islanders lived close by.
2
nd
July 1966 – a plutonium device was placed on a barge in the lagoon. All the water in the lagoon was sucked into the air. The contents of the lagoon rained down on the islands. It was reported that mounds of irradiated fish covered the surrounding islands.Slide6
10
th
September 1966 the French President came to Mururoa for a bomb to be detonated in front of him.
The wind was blowing in the wrong direction, but De Gaulle was impatient to get back to France, so it was detonated anyway, despite warnings that it was not safe
Heavy radioactive fallout across the region was registered by monitoring stations.
A thermonuclear weapon detonated in 1968 over
Fangataufa
left the whole atoll
uninhabitable
.Slide7Slide8
Protests
In the 1970s a boycott of French goods, airlines and shipping was having an impact on French business and trade
In 1974, the new French President ordered testing be moved underground
In the 1980s there were many independence movements in French Polynesia, Vanuatu gained independence in 1980Slide9
The Sad Facts
Between 1966 and 1992, France conducted 41 atmospheric tests and 138 tests in French Polynesia
Heavy radioactive fallout was registered in the area
In June 1996 President
Jaques
Chirac announced the end of nuclear testing at Mururoa and
Fangataufa