Radioactive Leak at Mururoa

TOKYO: The cancer-causing radioactive substance Iodine 131 was detected near Mururoa Atoll after France resumed nuclear testing in the Pacific last September [1995], the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun said yesterday [23 January 1996].

Data revealing the radioactive leak was disclosed by a French Nuclear Energy Agency specialist at an unoficial meeting last November [1995] of experts from prospective signaturories of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, it said. -- AFP

published in The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday, 24 January 1996

Radiation Leakage at Atolls Serious: Study

WELLIINGTON: Serious radiation leakage is likely to be occurring at Murruoa and Fangataufa atolls and will continue into the next century after French nuclear testing ends there this year, according to research issued today.

The theoretical research, by Auckland University's Centre for Peace Studies and Aqueous Geochemistry Research, a group linked to the centre, was issued in summary form. Principal researcher Dr. Richard Anstiss said the study showed the radiioactivity that could be released into the ocean was "alarmingly high". The research showed 100kg of plutonium could be released into the ocean through the atoll lagoons compared with French calculations of between 10kg and 20kg.

"The total amount of underground radioactivity that could leak by this process is approximately 50 times larger than the total radioactivity from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki explosions" Dr. Anstiss said. The research, based on the latest tests and earlier French tests both underground and in the air, use a new theoretical model.

The results come after news yesterday that France will give an International Atomic Energy Agency team unlimited access to Mururoa Atoll. -NZPA

published in The Canberra Times, Saturday, 27 January 1996

Last Modified: 13 May 1996

Bruce A. Peterson peterson@mso.anu.edu.au