Issue and Opponent: From 1966 to 1996, the French government conducted 193 nuclear weapon tests in the islands of the South Pacific, under the supervision of the Pacific Experimentation Center (CEP). The island of Moruroa, an uninhabited atoll in French Polynesia, was the site of a series of these testings. Influenced by the tensions generated after the tests carried out by China in 1995, France announced the intention to conduct a series of final nuclear explosions before ratifying the UN’s nuclear test ban treaty, which result in public opposition from both the French and the Tahitian population.
Dilemma Action: The test was followed by riots in Tahiti and pressure from a growing anti-nuclear movement. The protests were especially aimed at highlighting the structural and ecosystem damage caused by the explosions. Several scientific investigations have examined the impact of underground testing on the integrity and condition of the atoll, many of them executed by Greenpeace, which drew attention to French nuclear tests by challenging its ban on vessels within a 12-mile (19-kilometer) radius of the CEP.
Outcome: In 1996, France signed the protocols of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Rarotonga). Military and civilian facilities related to the nuclear testing were dismantled, and Mururoa and other atolls were returned to something approaching their natural state.