Conscience: Time to be at peace with itself, France to compensate victims sickened by nuclear tests

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French Defence Minister Hervé Morin said, "It's time for our country to be at peace with itself". The French government offered for the 1st time Tuesday to compensate victims of nuclear tests in Algeria and the South Pacific. Victims cautiously welcomed the move, nearly 50 years after France conducted its first atomic tests. But some victims say the offer is still too stingy, and is only a first step toward healing wounds left by explosions that sent blinding white flashes cascading over French Polynesia and the Sahara Desert. A total of 150,000 people, including civilian and military personnel, were on site for the 210 tests France carried out from 1960-1996, both in the atmosphere and underground, in the Sahara Desert and the South Pacific.

The French government will set aside about $13.5 million US for the first year's compensation payments, Morin said. The U.S. government, by comparison, has approved more than $1.38 billion in compensation to victims of nuclear tests since the enactment of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in 1990. French army veteran Pierre Leroy recalled being present when a nuclear test explosion blasted through its containment structure and sent a radioactive cloud over the Sahara in 1962. "We were 19, 20 years old. They told us, 'There are no risks, it's not dangerous,' " he said. "There were no precautions." He described being worn down by years of subsequent government denials of negligence and refusals to compensate victims. "We're not asking for the moon," Leroy said.

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Photos courtesy of François Mori / AP and AFP

Original Source: CBC News