Sydney/Suva
Wednesday, 05 May, 1999 :
The admission by French authorities that
there are fractures in the coral at Moruroa and Fangataufa Atolls throws
doubt on many of its other claims about the effects of nuclear testing in
French Polynesia.
"After years of secrecy and denials about the
environmental impacts of testing, the French Government has had to concede
there has been damage to coral,"
said Greenpeace Australia campaigns
manager Benedict Southworth.
This week the new director of
France's Atomic Energy Commission, Rene Pellet, admitted that there are
fractures in the atolls after carrying out an inspection of the two sites.
Greenpeace has condemned the news, revealed in Tahiti, and once
again called for an independent scientific investigation of the Moruroa
test site.
"Last year the French revealed that plutonium had leaked
into the lagoon at Moruroa and one year later they admit to cracks in the
coral of the atoll," said Southworth. Meanwhile, French officials continue
to maintain that there is no cause for environmental or health concerns in
the area.
"Greenpeace's fears about environmental pollution have
been upheld. France should commit itself to a complete investigation into
the effects on the environment and the workers involved in the tests."
"These new revelations about cracks in the atoll at Moruroa show
up huge cracks in the credibility of the French Government," said
Southworth.
The news about Moruroa raises serious concerns about
radioactive leaks. The French have created a massive nuclear waste dump
against the wishes of the people of the South Pacific.
"France has
spent years telling the world that its testing program was safe, and now
it is taking the community years to uncover the hidden facts that it is
not."
Hidden information is typical of many nuclear-related issues
- from Moruroa, Le Hague, Sellafield. This latest revelation does not bode
well for Australia's nuclear plans for a waste dump in South Australia,
and a new reactor at Lucas Heights.
"The nuclear industry and the
weapons industry it supports are just too deadly for humanity to play
with, and Australia should take heed of these latest revelations from the
Pacific," he said.
Between 1966 and 1996 the French Government
conducted 193 nuclear bomb tests above and below the atolls of Moruroa and
Fangataufa. The last test was conducted on 27 January 1996.
For
more info :
Carolin Wenzel 02 9263 0358, 0417 668 95
Carolin.Wenzel@au.greenpeace.org or
Stephen Campbell 02 9263 0351,0419
227 695 Stephen.Campbell@au.greenpeace.org
