French Polynesia's nuclear test veterans' group, Mururoa o tatou, says it will take a wait-and-see approach to a French government move to consider possible compensation for the victims of nuclear tests in the Pacific.
Until now France has claimed that nobody suffered any harm from the 30 years of testing which France ended in 1996.
The head of the veterans' group, Roland Oldham, says the decision by Paris to table a law came after a French Socialist MP Christiane Taubira presented a cross-party intiative to address the concern.
Mr Oldham says the French move flies in the face of years of denial and attempts to frustrate those seeking legal redress.
"The French government on this issue has been trying to delay all tribunal cases and have closed up the archives that we've asked to open. All the attitude has been negative all the time about this issue. And now suddenly, they want to put up a proposition of law."
Roland Oldham
