France was the fourth country to test an independently developed nuclear weapon in 1960, under the government of Charles de Gaulle. It is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" (NWS) under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. France is currently thought to retain a weapons stockpile of around 350 operational nuclear warheads. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Opened for signature July 1, 1968 in New York Entered into force March 5, 1970 Conditions for entry into force Ratification by the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the United States, and 40 other signatory states. ... In military preparation, to stockpile is to move materiel, personnel, and command and control infrastructure to a suitable location in preparation for deployment, or to move such materials into the theatre of war in preparation for combat. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ...

France had been heavily involved in nuclear research before World War II through the work of the Joliot-Curies. This was discontinued after the war because of the instability of the Fourth Republic and the lack of finance available[1]. However, in the 1950's a civil nuclear research program was started, a byproduct of which would be plutonium. In 1956 a secret Committee for the Military Applications of Atomic Energy was formed and a development program for delivery vehicles started. In 1957, soon after the Suez Crisis and the diplomatic tension with both the USSR and the Allies, French president René Coty decided the creation of the C.S.E.M. in the then French Sahara, a new nuclear tests facility replacing the C.I.E.E.S. [2]. With the return of Charles de Gaulle to the presidency of France in 1958 the final decisions to build a bomb were taken, and a successful test took place in 1960. Since then France has developed and maintained its own nuclear deterrent. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Joliot-Curie may refer to more than one person: Frédéric Joliot-Curie Irène Joliot-Curie - his wife This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... Combatants Israel United Kingdom France Egypt Commanders Moshe Dayan Charles Keightley Pierre Barjot Gamal Abdel Nasser Abdel Hakim Amer Strength 175,000 Israeli 45,000 British 34,000 French 70,000 Casualties 197 Israeli KIA 56 British KIA 91 British WIA 10 French KIA 43 French WIA 650 KIA 2... Look up ally in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... French statesman René Coty René-Jules-Gustave Coty (March 20, 1882 - November 22, 1962) was President of France from 1954 to 1959. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... The Redoutable, the first French nuclear missile submarine // a Pluton missile mobile launcher The Force de frappe (literally Striking Force; meant for dissuasion, i. ...

There were 210 French nuclear tests from 1960 until 1996. 17 of them were done in the Algerian Sahara between 1960 and 1966, starting in the middle of the Algerian War (1954-1962). 193 were carried out in French Polynesia. The Algerian War of Independence (1954–62) was a period of guerrilla strikes, maquis fighting, terrorism against civilians on both sides, and riots between the French army and colonists in Algeria and the FLN (Front de Libération Nationale) and other pro-independence Algerians. ...

Saharian experiments centers (1960-1966)

C.S.E.M. (1960-1961)

Further information: Gerboise Bleue

A series of atmospheric tests was conducted by the Centre Saharien d'Expérimentations Militaires ("Military Experiments Saharian Center") from February 1960 until April 1961. Gerboise Bleue (blue jerboa) was the first French nuclear weapon. ...

The first French atmospheric nuclear test, called "Gerboise bleue" ("blue jerboa") took place on 13 February 1960 in the French Sahara, during the Algerian War (1954-62). The explosion took place at 40 km from the military base of Reggane, which is the last town on the Tanezrouft Track heading south across the Sahara to Mali, and 700 km south of Colomb-Bechar ^[1]. The General Pierre-Marie Gallois was named le père de la bombe A ("A-bomb's father"). A nuclear test explosion is an experiment involving the detonation of a nuclear weapon. ... is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... The Algerian War of Independence (1954–62) was a period of guerrilla strikes, maquis fighting, terrorism against civilians on both sides, and riots between the French army and colonists in Algeria and the FLN (Front de Libération Nationale) and other pro-independence Algerians. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Zaouiet Reggane. ... The Tanezrouft is one of the most desolate parts of the Sahara desert. ...

Three others atmospheric tests were carried out from 1st April 1960 to 25 April 1961. These four atmospheric tests were carried out at with a forward base at Hammoudia near Reggane. Military, workers and the nomadic Touareg population of the region assisted to these explosions, without any protection. At most, a shower after each test according to the French communist newspaper l'Humanité ^[2].

C.E.M.O. (1961-1966)

Further information: Agathe (atomic test)

Due to international negative reactions, the C.S.E.M. was replaced by a safer underground tests facility known as the Centre d'Expérimentations Militaires des Oasis ("Military Experiments Center of the Oasis"). Experimentations lasted from November 1961 until February 1966.

The 13 underground tests were carried out at In Ekker, 150 km north of Tamanrasset, from 7 November 1961 to 16 February 1966. Categories: Africa geography stubs | Cities in Algeria | Wilayat of Algeria ...

After the independence of Algeria on 5 July 1962, following the 19 March Evian agreements, the French military moved to In Ekker, in the now Algerian Sahara. Secret agreements with the FLN included an article which stated that "Algeria concede... to France the use of certain air bases, terrains, sites and military installations which are necessary to it [France]." The Évian Accords were signed on March 18, 1962 in Évian-les-Bains, France by France and the F.L.N. (Front de Libération nationale), putting an end to the war in Algeria with a formal cease-fire proclaimed for March 19, and formalizing the idea of cooperative exchange...

Saharian facilities

• C.I.E.E.S. (Centre Interarmées d'Essais d'Engins Spéciaux): Hammaguir, 120 km southwest of Colomb-Béchar:

used for launching rockets from 1947 to 1967. [3]

• C.S.E.M. (Centre Saharien d'Expérimentations Militaires): Reggane, west of In-Salah, Tanezrouft:

used for atmospheric tests from 1960 to 1961.

• C.E.M.O. (Centre d'Expérimentations Militaires des Oasis): In Ekker, in the Hoggar, 150 km from Tamanrasset, Tan Afella mount:

used for underground tests from 1961 to 1967.

Hammaguir is a town in Algeria, south-west of Coulomb-Bechar. ... Béchar (Arabic: ولاية بشار ) is a capital city of Béchar province, Algeria. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Zaouiet Reggane. ... In Salah is an oasis town in central Algeria located around 27. ... The Tanezrouft is one of the most desolate parts of the Sahara desert. ... The Ahaggar Mountains, also known as the Hoggar, are a highland region in central Sahara, southern Algeria. ... Categories: Africa geography stubs | Cities in Algeria | Wilayat of Algeria ...

International reactions

Gerboise Rouge (5kt), the third atomic bomb, half as powerful as Hiroshima, exploded on 27 December 1960, provoking protests from Japan, USSR, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Ghana ^[3]. After the independence of Algeria on 5 July 1962, following the 19 March Evian agreements, the French military moved to In Ecker, also in the Algerian Sahara. Secret agreements with the FLN included an article which stated that "Algeria concede... to France the use of certain air bases, terrains, sites and military installations which are necessary to it [France]" during five years. By July 1st, 1967, all French facilities were cleaned and evacuated. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Évian Accords were signed on March 18, 1962 in Évian-les-Bains, France by France and the F.L.N. (Front de Libération nationale), putting an end to the war in Algeria with a formal cease-fire proclaimed for March 19, and formalizing the idea of cooperative exchange...

An accident happenned on May 1, 1962, during the "Béryl" test, four times more powerful than Hiroshima. The Minister of Armed Forces, Pierre Messmer, and the Minister of Research, Gaston Palewski, were present. Officials, soldiers and Algerian workers escaped as they could, often without wearing any protection. Palewski died in 1984 of leukemia, which he always has attributed to the Beryl incident. In 2006, Bruno Barillot, specialist of nuclear tests, measured on the site 93 microsieverts by hour of gamma ray, equivalent to 1% of the official admissible yearly dose ^[2]. On May 29, 1974 Jacques Chirac (left) replaced Pierre Messmer (right) as prime minister on the steps of the Hôtel Matignon. ... Gaston Palewski (20 March 1901 - 3 September 1984) was a French statesman. ... Leukemia or leukaemia (see spelling differences) is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow and is characterized by an abnormal proliferation (production by multiplication) of blood cells, usually white blood cells (leukocytes). ... The sievert (symbol: Sv) is the SI derived unit of dose equivalent. ...

Pacific experiments center (1966-1996)

A total of 193 nuclear tests were carried out in Polynesia from 1966 to 1996. Carving from the ridgepole of a Māori house, ca 1840 Polynesia (from Greek: πολύς many, νῆσος island) is a large grouping of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. ...

Atmospheric tests at Mururoa & Fangataufa

Further information: Canopus (nuclear test)

The French began development of the hydrogen bomb and built a new test range on the French Polynesian islands of Mururoa and Fangataufa. On 24 August 1968 France succeeded in detonating a thermonuclear weapon - codenamed Canopus - over Fangataufa. A fission device ignited a lithium 6 deuteride secondary inside a jacket of highly enriched uranium to create a 2.6 megaton blast which left the whole atoll uninhabitable because of radioactive contamination. Mushroom Cloud from the Canopus explosion rises above Fangataufa Canopus was the code name for Frances first two-stage thermonuclear test, conducted on August 24, 1968 at Fangataufa atoll. ... Moruroa (Mururura, Mururoa) (21°50S., 138°55W.) is an atoll in which forms part of the Tuamoto archipelago in French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean. ... Fangataufa (Fangatafoa) (22°15S., 138°45W.) is a small, low, narrow, barrier reef. ... August 24 is the 236th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (237th in leap years), with 129 days remaining. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1968 Gregorian calendar. ... A megaton or megatonne is a unit of mass equal to 1,000,000 metric tons, i. ...

Underground tests at Mururoa & Fangataufa

Simulation programme (1996-2010)

Current nuclear doctrine and strategy

In 2006, French president Jacques Chirac, noted that France would be willing to use nuclear weapons against a state attacking France via terrorist means. He noted that the French nuclear forces had been configured for this option. ^[4] Jacques René Chirac (born 29 November 1932) is a French politician. ...

Technology transmission to Israel

1950s

First step.

1980s

Second step.

Anti nuclear tests protests

Further information: Nuclear-free zone#New Zealand

French H-bomb Canopus' 2.6mt mushroom (1968).

• By 1968 only France and China were exploding nuclear weapons in the open air and the contamination caused by the H Bomb blast led to a global protest movement against further French atmospheric tests ^[5].

• From the early 1960s New Zealand peace groups CND and the Peace Media had been organising nationwide anti nuclear campaigns in protest of atmospheric testing in French Polynesia. These included two large national petitions presented to the New Zealand government which led to a joint New Zealand and Australian Government action to take France to the International Court of Justice (1972). [4]

• In 1972, Greenpeace and an amalgan of New Zealand peace groups managed to delay nuclear tests by several weeks by trespassing with a ship in the testing zone. During the time, the skipper, David McTaggart, was beaten and severely injured by members of the French military.

• In 1973 the New Zealand Peace Media organised an international frotilla of protest yachts including the Fri, Spirit of Peace, Boy Roel, Magic Island and the Tanmure to sail into the test exclusion zone.[5]

• In 1973, New Zealand Prime Minister Norman Kirk as a symbolic act of protest sent two navy frigates, HMNZS Canterbury and HMNZS Otago, to Mururoa.[6] They were accompanied by HMAS Supply, a fleet oiler of the Royal Australian Navy.^[6]

• In 1985 the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was bombed and sunk by the French DGSE in Auckland, New Zealand, as it prepared for another protest of nuclear testing in French military zones. One crew member, Fernando Pereira of Portugal, photographer, drowned on the sinking ship while attempting to recover his photographic equipment. Two members of DGSE were captured and sentenced, but eventually repatriated to France in a controversial affair.

• French president Jacques Chirac's decision to run a nuclear test series at Mururoa in 1995, just one year before the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was to be signed, caused worldwide protest, including an embargo of French wine. These tests were meant to provide the nation with enough data to improve further nuclear technology without needing additional series of tests.^[7]

A nuclear-free zone is an area where nuclear weapons and/or nuclear power are banned. ... Mushroom Cloud from the Canopus explosion rises above Fangataufa Canopus was the code name for Frances first two-stage thermonuclear test, conducted on August 24, 1968 at Fangataufa atoll. ... CND logo In British politics, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has been at the forefront of the peace movement in the United Kingdom and claims to be Europes largest single-issue peace campaign. ... Preparation for an underground nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site in the 1980s. ... A petition is a request to an authority, most commonly a government official or public entity. ... The International Court of Justice (known colloquially as the World Court or ICJ; French: ) is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. ... Greenpeace protest against Esso / Exxon Mobil. ... David McTaggart being interviewed on CNN David Fraser McTaggart (June 24, 1932 - March 23, 2001) was an Canadian-born environmentalist who played a central part in the foundation of Greenpeace International. ... The Prime Minister of New Zealand is most senior officer in the Government of New Zealand. ... Norman Eric Kirk served as Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974 and led the New Zealand Labour Party from 1965 to 1972. ... History HMNZS Canterbury was one of two broad beam Leander class frigates operated by the RNZN from 1971 to 2005. ... Ships carrying the name HMNZS Otago are named after the Province of Otago in New Zealand, on the South Island and are normally associated with the City of Dunedin. ... HMAS Supply (AO-195) was a Tide class fleet oiler laid down by Harland and Wolff Limited at Belfast in Northern Ireland on 5 August 1952, launched on 1 September 1954 and operated by the British Admiralty with a civilian crew as the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Tide Austral. ... The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. ... Rainbow Warrior is the name of a series of ships operated by Greenpeace. ... The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, codenamed Operation Satanic [1], was a special operation by the action branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE), carried out on July 10, 1985. ... Logo of Francess Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE) / General Directorate for External Security. ... Schematic map of Auckland. ... A nuclear test explosion is an experiment involving the detonation of a nuclear weapon. ... Fernando Pereira (1950–July 10, 1985) was a freelance Dutch photographer, of Portuguese origin, who drowned when French intelligence (DGSE) used two underwater mines to sink the ship Rainbow Warrior, owned by the environmental organisation Greenpeace on July 10, 1985 (see sinking of the Rainbow Warrior). ... Jacques René Chirac (born 29 November 1932) is a French politician. ... Moruroa (Mururura, Mururoa) (21°50S., 138°55W.) is an atoll in which forms part of the Tuamoto archipelago in French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean. ... Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Opened for signature September 10, 1996[1] in New York Entered into force Not yet in force Conditions for entry into force The treaty will enter into force 180 days after it is ratified by all of the following 44 (Annex 2) countries: Algeria, Argentina... For delayed access after publication, see Embargo (academic publishing). ...

Veteran's associations and symposium

An association gathering veterans of nuclear tests (AVEN, Association des vétérans des essais nucléaires) was created in July 2002. Along with the Polynesian NGO Moruroa e tatou, the AVEN announced on 27 November 2002 that it would depose a complaint against X (unknown) for unvoluntary homicide and putting someone's life in danger. On 7 June 2003, for the first time, the military court of Tours granted an invalidity pension to a veteran of the Sahara tests. According to a poll made by the AVEN with its members, only 12% have declared being in good health. ^[2]. An international symposium on the consequences of test carried out in Algeria took place on 13 and 14 February 2007, under the official oversight of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Tours is a city in France, the préfecture (capital city) of the Indre-et-Loire département, on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. ... Abdelaziz Bouteflika (عبد العزيز بوتفليقة) (born March 2, 1937) is the President of Algeria (since 1999). ...

150,000 civilians — without taking into account the local population — are estimated to have been on the location of nuclear tests, in Algeria or in French Polynesia ^[2].

References

LHumanité (Humanity), formerly the daily newspaper of the French Communist Party (PCF), was founded in 1904 by Jean Jaurès, a leader of the SFIO socialist party. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... The Right Reverend Associate Professor Tom Frame (b. ... The Senate amphitheater in the Luxembourg Palace The Senate (in French :le Sénat) is the upper house of the Parliament of France. ...

See also

• Gerboise Bleue
• France and weapons of mass destruction
• Nuclear-free zone
• Moruroa

Gerboise Bleue (blue jerboa) was the first French nuclear weapon. ... France is said to have an arsenal of 350 nuclear weapons stockpiled as of 2002 [1]. The weapons are part of the national Force de frappe. ... A nuclear-free zone is an area where nuclear weapons and/or nuclear power are banned. ... Moruroa Moruroa Moruroa (Mururura, Mururoa) (21°50′S 138°55′W.) is an atoll which forms part of the Tuamoto archipelago in French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean. ...

External links

• French nuclear forces, 2005 (Bulletin of the atomist scientists Jul/Aug 2005)
• French Senate report #207