LONDON, Thursday: France's era of nuclear testing in the South Pacific has left plutonium scattered over atolls and has contaminated lagoons, according to a major scientific study.
A 2000-page report coordinated by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and commissioned by the French Government, has confirmed fears that the areas surrounding the test sites will be contaminated for centuries. The report, to be tabled at a conference in IAEA headquarters in Vienna next week, shows that five trials in which nuclear weapons were destroyed by conventional explosives had left plutonium particles scattered over three islets near Mururoa atoll.
"There are also several kilograms of plutonium in the sediments of the lagoons at the Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls from atmospheric nuclear tests," New Scientist magazine reported.
"The study says that radioactive tritium is leaking into the lagoons from cavities left by underground tests, creating concentrations often 10 times higher than in the open ocean."
The report predicted plutonium from the cavities would migrate into the lagoons "in a few thousand years".
However, the study concludes the lingering contamination from 30 years of nuclear testing is unlikely to harm people's health, since the nearest community is 130 km away. - AAP
published in The Canberra Times, 26 June 1998, page 7