à Moruroa, Hao et Fangataufa, Annotated bibliography for the French nuclear weapons program from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues, The Woodrow Wilson Center's Nuclear Proliferation International History Project, Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents, Vulnerability of nuclear plants to attack, Nuclear and radiation accidents and incidents, Nuclear and radiation accidents by death toll, Cancelled nuclear reactors in the United States, Inquiries into uranium mining in Australia, Nuclear and radiation fatalities by country, Nuclear weapons tests of the Soviet Union, Nuclear weapons tests of the United States, 1996 San Juan de Dios radiotherapy accident, 1990 Clinic of Zaragoza radiotherapy accident, Three Mile Island accident health effects, Thor missile launch failures at Johnston Atoll, Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=France_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction&oldid=977895341, Articles with French-language sources (fr), Articles with dead external links from October 2017, Articles with permanently dead external links, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from December 2015, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2015, Articles to be expanded from October 2012, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2020, Articles with dead external links from August 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, In July 1959, after France announced that they would begin testing nuclear bombs in the Sahara, protests were held in Nigeria and Ghana, with the Liberian and Moroccan governments also denouncing the decision. In 1957, soon after Suez and the resulting diplomatic tension with both the Soviet Union and the United States, French president René Coty decided on the creation of the C.S.E.M. [47] Along with the Polynesian NGO Moruroa e tatou, the AVEN announced on 27 November 2002 that it would depose a complaint against X (unknown) for involuntary homicide and putting someone’s life in danger. [citation needed], French law requires at least one out of four nuclear submarines to be on patrol in the Atlantic Ocean at any given time, like the UK's policy. in the then French Sahara, a new nuclear testing facility replacing the CIEES. By the latter part of the 1940s, testing of Tabun-filled ordnance had become routine, often using livestock to test their effects. [fr]. La soutiendrez-vous ? Sur quels critères sera évalué le handicap? [fr]. [22], The United States began providing technical assistance to the French program in the early 1970s through the 1980s. London: Frank Cass, 2000. Copyright © 2019 by the Atomic Heritage Foundation. In 2009, the French Parliament passed a bill, which acknowledged the impact of its nuclear testing program. La force de dissuasion nucléaire française, aussi nommée force de frappe, désigne les systèmes d'armes nucléaires dont la France dispose dans le cadre de sa stratégie de dissuasion nucléaire. Nous avons fait le choix de proposer tous les contenus du journal en accès libre, sans publicité. In time, the more potent phosgene replaced chlorine in use by armies on the Western Front, including France, leading to massive casualties on both sides of the conflict however the effects were mitigated by development of protective clothing and masks as the war progressed. ", Hymans, Jacques E.C. The A-bomb explosion made France the world's fourth nuclear power after the United States (1945), the Soviet Union (1949) and the United Kingdom (1952). เล่นถัดไป. Nevertheless, rising costs and aging facilities have forced the shutdown of several nuclear plants in recent years. By 1958, the French government was pouring its resources into the Force Nucléaire Stratégique (FNS), known alternately as the force de frappe, literally “strike force.” Nevertheless, any doubts as to the development of the French atomic bomb were washed away with the start of the Fifth French Republic and the return of nationalist President Charles de Gaulle. How did the launch of a nuclear weapons and testing program affect France's role in the international community? Although Algeria became independent in 1962, France was able to continue with underground nuclear tests in Algeria through 1966. [28] The device had a 70 kiloton yield. It would be used in vital experiments by British and French scientists proving that a self-sustaining chain reaction was in fact possible. On 13 February 1960, France conducted its first nuclear test, code-named “Gerboise Bleue” (Blue Desert Rat). The first, called Gerboise Bleue ("Blue jerboa") took place on 13 February 1960 in Algeria. Powers, Thomas. France currently maintains the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world with roughly 300 operational warheads. In Moruroa, nuclear waste, including wood and metal scraps, were stored. On November 20, 1959 the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution supported by 26 Afro-Asian countries expressing concern and requesting “France to refrain from such tests.”. Detonated on top of a 336-foot-high tower, the bomb had a yield of 60-70 kilotons, four times more powerful than the Little Boy bomb dropped on Hiroshima. [52] Algerian groups had also complained that these restrictions would deny compensation to many victims. The fourth world power to acquire the atomic bomb, France entered the club atomique during a violent period of decolonization that would only decades later be acknowledged officially by the French government as an "Algerian War". Mendès France established a liaison between the CEA and the Ministry of Defense by creating the Comité des Applications de l’Energie Atomique, headed by General Paul Ely. Joliot-Curie also gave Allier a tube of cadmium, telling him, “Keep this with you always. The subsequent G-2 and G-3 reactors, built in 1958 and 1959 respectively, were much more powerful, capable of producing 200 megawatts of electricity. Le rayon d'action des Rafale, … He noted that the French nuclear forces had been configured for this option. The testing also affected marine life in the atolls, causing biodiversity to decline and leading to the disappearance of some reptiles and birds. Its headquarters were established at the Fort of Châtillon, approximately three miles south of Paris. Même pour un euro, vous pouvez soutenir Reporterre — et cela ne prend qu’une minute. There was no formal commitment to a nuclear weapons program at that time, although plans were made to build reactors for the large scale production of plutonium. France had also ratified the Geneva Protocol in 1926. Farr, Warner D (September 1999), The Third Temple's holy of holies: Israel's nuclear weapons, The Counterproliferation Papers, Future Warfare Series, 2, USAF Counterproliferation Center, Air War College, Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, retrieved July 2, 2006. On February 13, 1960, an atomic bomb was detonated near Zaouiet Reggane in the Sahara Desert of Algeria, a North African nation that was then part of Charles de Gaulle's France. [Dominique Mongin] On 13 February 1960, France conducted its first nuclear test, code-named “Gerboise Bleue” (Blue Desert Rat). The Polynesian people and leaders broadly supported the choice, although the tests became controversial after they began, especially among Polynesian separatists.[27]. Nine soldiers of the 621st Groupe d'Armes Spéciales unit were heavily contaminated by radiation. [19] The idea was short-lived. While they were likely aware of the possibility of the atomic bomb, prominent French scientists believed that nuclear power could provide the answer to France’s energy needs. France did not sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which gave it the option to conduct further nuclear tests until it signed and ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 1996 and 1998 respectively. Because the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 prohibited sharing information on nuclear weapon design, a method known as "negative guidance" or "Twenty Questions" was used; French scientists described to their U.S. counterparts their research, and were told whether they were correct. With an explosive yield of 70 kilotons, Gerboise Bleue was relatively large for a country’s first nuclear test, around four times as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb. France is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, but is not known to possess or develop any chemical or biological weapons. VICTIMES ALGÉRIENNES DES ESSAIS NUCLÉAIRES FRANÇAIS. The only supply of heavy water at the time was produced at the Norsk-Hydro Plant in Norway. France would go on to conduct 192 additional tests in French Polynesia. They would only be allowed to share information with the French project that they themselves had worked on at Chalk River. What and how did the French population learn and think about their nation's bomb? Nuclear research was led primarily by physicist and chemist Frédéric Joliot-Curie, the son-in-law of famed French scientist Marie Curie and the husband of Irène Joliot-Curie. Électricité de France (EDF) continues to operate 58 nuclear reactors across France, producing approximately 75% of French electricity. Areas in which the French received help included MIRV, radiation hardening, missile design, intelligence on Soviet anti-missile defences, and advanced computer technology. From the early 1960s New Zealand peace groups, In 1973 the New Zealand Peace Media organised an international flotilla of protest yachts including the, Kristensen, Hans M., and Matt Korda. Subsequent French nuclear testing was conducted at French Polynesian atolls in the South Pacific, site of atmospheric thermonuclear tests, starting with the 2.6 megaton Canopus test in August 1968. View all subjects; More like this: Similar Items Find a copy in the library. weapons of mass destruction, must understand that they would lay themselves open to a firm and fitting response on our part.” In 2008, President Nicholas Sarkozy announced a reduction in the French nuclear arsenal to a maximum of 300 warheads, a position continued by his successor, President François Hollande. Together with physicist Lew Kowarski, Joliot-Curie achieved a fission reaction on January 26, 1939. Unlike the Manhattan Project, the success of the CEA did not remain a secret. [22], France is understood to have tested neutron or enhanced radiation bombs in the past, apparently leading the field with an early test of the technology in 1967[23] and an "actual" neutron bomb in 1980. According to Kowarski, Joliot-Curie noted, “Well, it’s very amusing of course, but I can tell you that I’m quite sure that this discovery has already been made in other places.” He was right, as other scientists had conducted nuclear fission experiments, but according to Kowarski, Joliot-Curie did not know and was merely guessing. Après échange avec le ministère de la Défense de la France, l’avocate conclut que ces pseudo mannequins étaient en fait des corps humains, vraisemblablement ceux de prisonniers du FLN, envoyés au Sahara à cette même période et dont elle n’a pu retrouver aucune trace. He noted that the French nuclear forces had been configured for this option. Atomic bomb. VICTIMES ALGÉRIENNES DES ESSAIS NUCLÉAIRES FRANÇAIS. was therefore replaced by the Centre d'Expérimentations Militaires des Oasis ("Military Experiments Center of the Oasis") underground nuclear testing facility. As a result of France’s growing anticommunism after a failed Communist Party strike in the winter of 1947 and a communist coup in Czechoslovakia in 1948, the CEA dismissed Joliot-Curie in 1950. © 2019 Reporterre - tous droits reservés. The French Senate has since stated that “this confirms that certain regions nearby to the test received a significant dose of radioactivity.” The Senate also noted that since Algeria became independent, it never tried to pursue information about radiation contamination in the region, and that Saharan winds and erosion have “rendered inspections today practically impossible.” An Al Jazeera report from 2015 stated that France buried additional radioactive materials in the Sahara but that, again, winds have made further investigation impossible. [29] One French veteran of the 1960s nuclear tests in Algeria described being given no protective clothing or masks, while being ordered to witness the tests at so close a range that the flash penetrated through the arm he used to cover his eyes. Reporterre emploie une équipe de journalistes professionnels, qui produit quotidiennement des articles, enquêtes et reportages sur la crise environnementale et sociale. The aid was secret, unlike the relationship with the British nuclear program. Tout cela est possible grâce aux dons de nos lecteurs. Underground nuclear explosion testing was performed in drifts in the Taourirt Tan Afella mountain, one of the granite Hoggar Mountains. Comparing the Cases of India and France." On November 20, 1959 the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution supported by 26 Afro-Asian countries expressing concern and requesting “France to refrain from such tests.”. During World War II several French scientists participated in an Anglo-Canadian project in Canada, where eventually a heavy water reactor was built at Chalk River, Ontario, in 1945. [10] Francis Perrin, French High-Commissioner for Atomic Energy from 1951 to 1970, stated that from 1949 Israeli scientists were invited to the Saclay Nuclear Research Centre, this cooperation leading to a joint effort including sharing of knowledge between French and Israeli scientists especially those with knowledge from the Manhattan Project,[11][12][13] the French believed that cooperation with Israel could give them access to international Jewish nuclear scientists. "First World War.com - Weapons of War: Poison Gas", Archives sur le Centre d'Expérimentations Nucléaires du Pacifique (C.E.P.) In 2010, the French Parliament passed a law offering compensation to the victims of nuclear testing and their descendants. [28] The device had a 70 kiloton yield. Alors ils souffrent et disparaissent en silence. As a result of testing in the French Polynesian atolls, fallout spread by rain-out. More recently, France has used supercomputers to simulate and study nuclear explosions. But after the Liberation in 1945, France had to start its own program almost from scratch. Nuclear power became not only a question of national security but of global status, particularly as a nation with colonial holdings. A total of 193 nuclear tests were carried out in Polynesia from 1966 to 1996. France denies currently having chemical weapons, ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1995, and acceded to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1984. In 1957, France had established a testing site near the town of Reggane, Algeria, an oasis in the Sahara Desert. In 2010, Le Parisien, a French newspaper, released a confidential military report indicating that French soldiers were used in “tactical experiments” to study the effects of radiation on humans. [22], France is understood to have tested neutron or enhanced radiation bombs in the past, apparently leading the field with an early test of the technology in 1967[23] and an "actual" neutron bomb in 1980. With the liberation of France and the return of prominent scientists including Kowarski, Halban, Jules Guéron, and Bertrand Goldschmidt, Frédéric Joliot-Curie was determined to restart atomic research as soon as possible. Lire aussi : Les Occidentaux utilisent-ils de l’uranium appauvri en Libye ? Revelations since then have continued to prove the damage inflicted by the French nuclear program. [18] The Chancellor of Germany Konrad Adenauer told his cabinet that he "wanted to achieve, through EURATOM, as quickly as possible, the chance of producing our own nuclear weapons". Les médecins de l’hôpital s’inquiètent de la recrudescence des cancers et notamment des cancers de la thyroïde et de la peau qu’ils soignent tant bien que mal avec leurs faibles moyens. The fourth world power to acquire the atomic bomb, France entered the club atomique during a violent period of decolonization that would only decades later be acknowledged officially by the French government as an "Algerian War". L’inquiétude est grande pour les conséquences sanitaires des 4 bombes aériennes qui ont explosé en 1960 et 1961 à quelques 40 km de leur petit oasis : les habitants n’avaient ni abris ni blockhaus pour se protéger, pas plus, d’ailleurs, que les soldats français de la base de soutien aux essais nucléaires. In May 2009, a group of twelve French veterans, in the campaign group "Truth and Justice", who claim to have suffered health effects from nuclear testing in the 1960s had their claims denied by the government Commission for the Indemnification of Victims of Penal Infraction (CIVI), and again by a Paris appeals court, citing laws which set a statute of limitations for damages to 1976. [49] Several French veterans and African and Polynesian campaign groups have waged court cases and public relations struggles demanding government reparations. More recently, France has used supercomputers to simulate and study nuclear explosions. [33], Despite its initial choice of Algeria for nuclear tests, the French government decided to build Faa'a International Airport in Tahiti, spending much more money and resources than would be justified by the official explanation of tourism. In 1956 a secret Committee for the Military Applications of Atomic Energy was formed and a development program for delivery vehicles was started. In 1937, Frédéric Joliot-Curie accepted a teaching position at the Collège de France in Paris, where he also set up a laboratory complete with the first cyclotron in Western Europe. Medical studies in recent years have concluded that testing can account for the rise of cancer in island inhabitants. Official French reports stated, “For the explosions at low altitude, the earth, the water, and varied debris… formed a vertical column between the sun and the sphere of gas heat which had the appearance of snow.” Soon after the tests began, the French military quickly established a 150km “contaminated zone” around Reggane. Although Zoé had used heavy water as a moderator, subsequent reactors used graphite as they decided building a heavy water plant would be too extensive. When a cyclone occurred in 1981, it caused this waste to spread throughout the surrounding atolls. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. At most, some took a shower after each test according to L'Humanité. According to the report, a 1961 nuclear test involved military personnel advancing on foot and in trucks to within a few hundred metres of the epicentre of a nuclear blast less than an hour after detonation. Subjects: Nuclear energy. [18] The Chancellor of Germany Konrad Adenauer told his cabinet that he "wanted to achieve, through EURATOM, as quickly as possible, the chance of producing our own nuclear weapons". After studying Réunion, New Caledonia, and Clipperton Island, General Charles Ailleret, head of the Special Weapons Section, proposed two possible nuclear test sites for France in a January 1957 report: French Algeria in the Sahara Desert, and French Polynesia. [29] The incident was documented in the 2006 docudrama "Vive La Bombe! The Béryl Test in Algeria serves as an example. [31] Due to improper sealing of the shaft, radioactive rock and dust were released into the atmosphere. [32] The soldiers were exposed to as much as 600 mSv. [27], By 1962 France hoped in its negotiations with the Algerian independence movement to retain the Sahara as a test site until 1968, but decided that it needed to be able to also perform above-ground tests of hydrogen bombs, which could not be done in Algeria. While development was slowed by the impact of World War II, the achievements of early French research were critical for nuclear development worldwide. Three more atmospheric tests were conducted at Reggane, sparking condemnation and protests from a number of African countries. [49] Defence Minister Hervé Morin said the government would create a board of physicians, overseen by a French judge magistrate, to determine if individual cases were caused by French testing, and if individuals were suffering from illnesses on a United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation list of eighteen disorders linked to exposure to testing. This survey concluded that 35 percent of the polled veterans had one or more types of cancer, and nearly one in five were infertile. [a], There were 210 French nuclear tests from 1960 through 1995. Blood cancer and cardiovascular problems were common among nuclear project veterans. des images rares. The MLF never came to fruition and was mocked by the Tom Lehrer song, “The MLF Lullaby.” France went on to withdraw from NATO’s integrated military command in Brussels in March 1966, and did not officially rejoin until 2009. France states that it does not currently possess chemical weapons. The Evian agreements included a secret article which stated that "Algeria concede[s]... to France the use of certain air bases, terrains, sites and military installations which are necessary to it [France]" during five years. The same year, the U.S. and the U.K. agreed not to share any information from their nuclear programs with France or West Germany. After the independence of Algeria on 5 July 1962, following the 19 March 1962 Evian agreements, the French military moved the test site to another location in the Algerian Sahara, around 150 km north of Tamnarasset, near the village of In Eker. Having tested its own nuclear device, France sought inclusion in the U.S.-U.K. nuclear sharing program. The French government had always maintained that its nuclear operations were carried out as safely as possible. [50] Following this rejection, the government announced it would create a 10m Euro compensation fund for military and civilian victims of its testing programme; both those carried out in the 1960s and the Polynesian tests of 1990–1996. La France réalise son premier essai d'une bombe atomique à fission sous le nom de code Gerboise bleue le 13 février 1960, puis son premier essai d'une bombe à fusion thermonucléaire sous le nom de code Canopus le 24 août 1968. Ces lieux restent très contaminés et pourtant, ils sont restés libres d’accès pendant un demi-siècle… Les nomades et les habitants de Reggane et des oasis voisins, ignorant tout du danger, ont récupéré tout ce qu’ils ont pu sur ces lieux stupéfiants de beauté et pourtant imprégnés de poisons mortels. The Evian agreements included a secret article which stated that "Algeria concede[s]... to France the use of certain air bases, terrains, sites and military installations which are necessary to it [France]" during five years. At a conference in Paris in 1989, France declared that it was no longer in possession of chemical weaponry, despite maintaining the manufacturing capacity to readily produce them if needed.[59]. Frustrated by France’s exclusion from the U.S.-U.K. partnership, de Gaulle wanted to make France more independent from NATO and sought to do so largely with the development of nuclear weapons. In 1957, soon after Suez and the resulting diplomatic tension with both the Soviet Union and the United States, French president René Coty decided on the creation of the C.S.E.M. Thus, Joliot-Curie primarily researched the effects of radiation during the war, while efforts to build a nuclear reactor were tabled. [50] Following this rejection, the government announced it would create a 10m Euro compensation fund for military and civilian victims of its testing programme; both those carried out in the 1960s and the Polynesian tests of 1990–1996. Simon Fraser University President Charles de Gaulle announced the choice on 3 January 1963, describing it as a benefit to Polynesia's weak economy. In 1956 a secret Committee for the Military Applications of Atomic Energy was formed and a development program for delivery vehicles was started. The Economist: “France’s nuclear-energy champion is in turmoil”, The Nuclear Weapons Archive: “France’s Nuclear Weapons”, The World Nuclear Association: “Nuclear Power in France”. Mururoa and Fangataufa in French Polynesia were chosen that year. While development was slowed by the impact of World War II, the achievements of early French research were critical for nuclear development worldwide. Veterans argue this law does not go far enough because over 150,000 people participated in the nuclear test operations, including both military personnel and civilians. Areas in which the French received help included MIRV, radiation hardening, missile design, intelligence on Soviet anti-missile defences, and advanced computer technology. All rights reserved. "French nuclear forces, 2019. While the French government long denied any links between its testing program and the health problems of the residents of French Polynesia, medical studies in recent years revealed a link between nuclear testing and a spike in thyroid cancer. According to a poll made by the AVEN with its members, only 12% have declared being in good health. France denies currently having chemical weapons, ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1995, and acceded to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1984.
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