13 Jun 2006

Disappointment at French refusal to open atomic test record

3:30 pm on 13 June 2006

There has been disappointment in French Polynesia with the latest disclosures of the French safety official about the legacy of the French nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific.

Marcel Jurien de la Graviere, who is the top French official dealing with safety, has made his latest findings public.

An assembly member, Tea Hirshon, has told local radio that France has maintained the secrecy surrounding its tests.

Ms Hirshon also says questions remain about what happened to the waste from the military bases in Hao and Mururoa.

Roland Oldham, who is the president of the veterans' organisation Mururoa e Tatou, says France still refuses to confirm who worked on the test sites.

"If it can last another ten years, most of the people that have actually worked on Mururoa will be dead by then, they will be no more. I think that is the strategy they are doing today."

Roland Oldham