Nuke Researchers Ask France To Let Them Study N-Test Site

An independent nuclear research group Thursday requested permission to examine radioactivity levels at the South Pacific site where France plans to resume nuclear testing.

The request by the Commission for Research and Independent Information on Radioactivity was made to President Jacques Chirac, who announced the test resumption on Tuesday.

Chirac said France would abandon a 1992 moratorium on nuclear testing and conduct eight more tests between September and May at Mururoa atoll in French Polynesia.

The announcement provoked worldwide criticism, particularly in the South Pacific region where there is widespread fear that the underground blasts may harm the environment.

After meeting U.N. officials in New York, Chirac Thursday promised that foreign scientists could be present at the tests “to note that there is absolutely no ecological impact whatsoever of these tests.”

Michele Rivasi, president of the research commission, proposed that a team of French and foreign experts, including some from South Pacific nations, spend three to four weeks in the atoll taking samples.

She asked Chirac to guarantee the team “total freedom of action.”