France, which had raised the ire of many nations by going ahead with its underground nuclear testing programme from September
last, may have to face some
more music. Reportedly, the
atomic tests were
not all that safe as
the French had vociferously
proclaimed. Radioactive elements -iodine
131, cesium and tritium - are
said to have
leaked into the
Pacific Ocean as a
consequence of the
tests near Mururoa Atoll in the
South Pacific. French officials,
however, insist that
the quantities leaked
were so small that they posed no
threat to the environment. Greenpeace,
the international environmental
group, seized upon the disclosure
and demanded that France "fully
disclose the contamination data and
immediately stop all further nuclear tests." Protests
from other countries
like Japan to come clean on the
radiation leakage
soon followed.
The international
pressure seems to have aided
the beleaguered
French nation to come
to a decision
about its nuclear
programme. After
months of facing
diplomatic
ostracism for having
carried out the
tests, it finally
announced an early
halt to the testing.
The French move
was proclaimed in a
broadcast by
President Jacques
Chirac on January
29 at Paris.
The resumption of the
final series of tests by
France broke a
three year
international
moratorium
on nuclear testing.
it had only China
as an ally in
activating tests of
weapons of mass
destruction. Defending
his decision to
continue the tests,
Chirac said that
though nuclear
wespotiry may cause
fear, "in an
always dangerous
world, it acts for
us as a weapon of
dissausion, a
weapon in the service
of peace."
Meanwhile, China said
that it would
not halt its
underground nuclear
blasts until a global
test ban treaty
comes into effect.
Said Chen fan, a
foreign ministry
spokesperson on
January 30, "China
has conducted a
very limited number
of nuclear tests
and things will continue to remain
that way.
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