nuclear-news

Only 5 Polynesians to get compensation for French nuclear tests

Pacific Islands Development Program, East-West Center With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawai‘i WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, Dec. 12, 2012) – France has agreed to compensate five French Polynesians for the damage caused to their health by its nuclear weapons tests in the South Pacific.

The Nouvelles de Tahiti says this was announced after a meeting of the compensation committee at the defense ministry in Paris.

In July, France had deemed that only four of the 720 applications were eligible for any compensation under a law passed three years ago.

Veterans’ organizations have strongly criticized the law for being far too restrictive, but the new defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, says any change to it is not on the agenda.

Until 2008, France claimed that its nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific were clean and had caused no harm.

December 14, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, Legal, OCEANIA