The French Polynesia Assembly decided to demand reparation of damages from the French government over the nuclear tests. According to The Independent, the Conservative party committee of Polynesia estimated the damage caused to the environment at $930 million.
The committee's data shows that in the period of 1966-1996 France carried out 210 nuclear tests that had a pernicious effect on the region's environment. One of the first thermonuclear weapons was detonated in 1968 in the Fangataufa atoll region.
Last year, the French Ministry of Defense declassified some documentation where was stated that there is much more radiation on the islands than it was believed earlier. For example, the radiation on Tahiti is 500 times higher than expected.
Apart from the ecological damage, the committee intends to collect another $132 million for the continuing occupation of the Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls.
In January 2012, the French Senate accepted the bill of the Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls' handover to Polynesia. The islands where the atmospheric and underground tests were carried out were to be handed over to Polynesia on January 1, 2014. At the same time, Paris promised to continue ensuring the atolls' safety and monitor their radiation level.
