[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H811-H812]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FRENCH NUCLEAR TESTING IS LEAKING RADIOACTIVITY INTO SOUTH PACIFIC
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from American Samoa [Mr. Faleomavaega] is recognized for 5
minutes.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, since September of last year, France
has resumed detonating nuclear bombs in coral atolls in the South
Pacific, defying worldwide protests against this crime against nature
and against the lives and welfare of some 27 million men, women, and
children who live in the Pacific region.
In deciding to resume nuclear testing, the French President Jacques
Chirac promised the international community there would be no
environmental consequences from their nuclear tests, as radioactive
substances would not be discharged into the ocean and the surrounding
areas.
Mr. Speaker, despite the intense fears of millions of residents in
the Pacific, France's nuclear bomb detonations over the past 30 years
are laying the foundation for a major environmental tragedy like
Chernobyl. The French Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly stated that
radioactive substances from their nuclear tests are trapped in the
ground and there is no danger of radioactive contamination.
Yesterday, France's big lie was revealed.
After a Japanese newspaper broke the story yesterday, media reports
confirm that France now acknowledges that radioactive materials have,
indeed, leaked into the sea from their recent nuclear tests at Moruroa
Atoll. Radioactive iodine-131, which is created by nuclear explosions
and causes cancer in humans, was detected by French officials after the
tests but was apparently covered up. Only after a French nuclear
specialist mistakenly revealed the information during a disarmament
conference held right here in Washington last November--that the
radioactive leakage was brought to light.
Mr. Speaker, this just confirms what we all know. The French
Government cannot be trusted to tell the truth. One wonders what other
monstrosities they have been hiding in the name of national interest.
Although the French routinely deny that their nuclear tests threaten
the health and safety of Pacific residents or endanger the region's
fragile marine environment, documents from France's Atomic Energy
Commission confirm that at least three tests in the past have also led
to radioactive contamination at Moruroa Atoll. Scientific missions to
Moruroa--although severely restricted by French authorities in to their
access to test sites, test data and time for study--have verified the
presence of radioactive isotopes such as iodine-131, cesium-134,
tritium, krypton-85, and plutonium. The presence of these radioactive
materials substantiate fears that leakage, venting, and accidental
dispersal of radioactive materials have occurred at France's test
facilities in the two island atolls in the Pacific.
Despite France's assurances to the contrary, these reports and the
events of yesterday confirm that France's underground testing program
cannot ensure that radioactive contamination is fully contained.
While France's Defense Minister and Foreign Minister denounce
accounts that Moruroa Atoll has suffered deep cracks and fissuring from
the nuclear testing, a confidential French Defense Ministry study
directly contradicts them. As reported in today's Washington Post,
The French Government has been aware, at least since 1979,
that Moruroa's underwater basalt foundation is fractured in
several places.
The report described the effects of an accident in 1979 in
which the French detonated a 150-kiloton weapon only 1,300
feet below the surface of the lagoon. The blast was supposed
to occur at 2,600 feet, but the bomb got stuck halfway down
the test shaft, and the French detonated it there rather
than risk trying to move it. The explosion blasted loose
more than 130 million cubic yards of rock and coral,
causing a tidal wave that injured several French
scientists and guards. The document also described
underwater avalanches that followed three tests as proof
the growing number of tests was posing serious
environmental risks to Mururoa Atoll.
Mr. Speaker, with French President Chirac expected in Washington next
week, I would ask our colleagues to join me in urging that the French
Government stop this madness and immediately cease nuclear testing in
the South Pacific.
Mr. Speaker, I've said it earlier and I'll say it again--the French
Government has already exploded some 177 nuclear bombs in this atoll in
the Pacific, and Prime Minister John Majors of Great Britain and our
own President have given only lip service to these acts of atrocity
against the marine environment and against the lives of human beings
who live in that part of the world.
Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the following information:
Radioactive Leak Found at France's Mururoa
Tokyo (Reuter)--A Japanese newspaper said on Tuesday that
France had detected a toxic radioactive substance near
Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific after resuming nuclear
testing there last September.
Yomiuri Shimbun, quoting unnamed sources close to the
Geneva Conference on Disarmament, said the radioactive
substance called ``Iodine 131'' was detected near Mururoa
Atoll.
The sources said a specialist from the French Nuclear
Energy Agency disclosed the radiation leakage at an
unofficial meeting in Washington last November of experts
from prospective signatories of a Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty.
The French expert, however, did not make it clear exactly
when the radioactive substance was detected.
After making the disclosure, the French expert asked the
other participants to ``forget what they had just heard,''
saying the data was ``extremely confidential,'' the sources
were quoted as saying.
Quoting one source close to the Washington meeting, Yomiuri
said the radiation level of the substance was so low that it
would not harm humans.
But when Iodine 131, commonly detected after frequent
nuclear tests, is taken into the human body, it could cause
cancer, Yomiuri said.
France has defied worldwide protests and conducted five
nuclear weapons tests in the South Pacific since last
September.
[[Page H812]]
____
Clinton Urges Action on Nuclear Treaty
(By Stephanie Nebehay)
Geneva (Reuter)--President Clinton pressed Tuesday for a
quick resolution to talks on an underground nuclear test ban
treaty so the text could go to the U.N. General Assembly by
June but India demanded nuclear powers first give assurances
to eliminate nuclear weapons, Clinton said.
But the Group of 21 countries, which includes nuclear
``threshold'' states India and Pakistan, criticized the major
powers for refusing to open new negotiations on a nuclear
disarmament treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons.
The 38-state negotiations, sponsored by the United Nations,
were overshadowed last year by France staging five
underground nuclear tests in the South Pacific, and two
blasts by China.
``A Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is vital to
constrain both the spread and further development of nuclear
weapons,'' Clinton said in a message read by John
Holum, director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament
Agency.
``Now, urgent national political decisions must complement
your painstaking work in Geneva, so that the Conference can
forward a completed Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to the U.N.
General Assembly by June.''
In New Delhi, Foreign Ministry spokesman Arif Khan told
reporters India's conditions to support the CTBT were
unchanged despite Western pressure.
He said India's stand was clearly stated in Prime Minister
P.V. Narasimha Rao's address to the recent summit of non-
aligned countries.
India exploded a nuclear device in 1974 but says its
nuclear program is peaceful. It declined to sign the Nuclear
Non-proliferation Treaty last year, saying the pact
discriminated against non-nuclear powers.
``A handful of nations perpetuated their monopoly over the
means of mutually assured destruction by the indefinite
extension of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty,'' Rao told
the non-aligned summit.
``They did so without even obtaining an expression of
intent to eventually abolish all nuclear weapons as envisaged
in that treaty itself.''
India says it wants both the CTBT and a proposed convention
on the cut-off of fissile material for weapons.
``While the aim of both these treaties are laudable, and we
support them wholeheartedly, we must ensure that we do not
lose yet another opportunity to obtain a commitment to
universal and comprehensive nuclear disarmament,'' Rao said.
But Holum told a news briefing in Geneva that Clinton's
message ``made clear that this is a very high priority
commitment of the United States. We are dedicated to
completion of the test ban on time. We believe that will
happen.''
Holum, noting some states wanted to link the CTBT to a
timetable for totally eliminating nuclear weapons, warned in
his speech: `` . . . I must acknowledge that the CTBT is at
risk here in Geneva.''
He said it was imperative to report the complete text of
the CTBT to the General Assembly by June ``at the very
latest.''
This would allow governments to examine the text, endorse
it at the General Assembly and open it for signature in
September.
All five declared nuclear powers: Britain, China, France,
Russia and the United States are taking part in the talks.
Holum said the United States continued to believe a
moratorium on testing, as observed by Washington, was the
most positive way to support the negotiations.
But he also said the latest blasts might help forge
consensus around a CTBT, which would extend the 1963 Moscow
treaty banning tests in the atmosphere and under water.
Asked whether a further French underground blast, due
before May, might be harmful to the negotiations, Holum
replied: ``I would think it would be just the opposite.
``This is our chance to accomplish a nuclear CTBT. This
window of opportunity may not stay open forever.
``If countries are concerned by those tests, it seems to
me that a CTBT is the answer, not the problem.''
Meanwhile, the Group of 21, in a statement read by Peru,
called for immediately establishing a special ad-hoc
committee, under the conference, to negotiate a nuclear
disarmament treaty.
Pakistani Ambassador Munir Akram, in a separate speech,
said the Geneva conference faced a ``moment of truth'' at a
time when there were no confrontations between the nuclear
powers.
``It is, therefore, most disturbing that most of the
nuclear weapon states seem to be unprepared to consider the
measures required to lead to the complete elimination of
nuclear weapons.
``Some of them, while reducing their nuclear arsenals
quantitatively, are upgrading them qualitatively,'' Akram
added.
____
[From the Washington Post, Jan. 24, 1996]
France Acknowledges Radioactive Leakage in South Pacific Nuclear Tests
(By William Drozdiak)
Paris.--France acknowledged today that radioactive
materials have leaked into the sea from its nuclear tests in
the South Pacific but insisted that the quantities were so
minimal that they posed no threat to the environment.
The confirmation that radioactive elements such as iodine-
131 have seeped into the lagoon near the Mururoa test site
seemed likely to revive the storm of protests that followed
President Jacques Chirac's decision to conduct a final series
of underground nuclear explosions before signing a global
test-ban treaty.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yukihiko Ikeda said he will
demand a full explanation from France about the nature of the
leaks. Other countries in the Pacific region, notably
Australia and New Zealand, are expected to follow suit,
French officials said.
Defying international criticism, France has carried out
five nuclear tests since September to verify a new warhead
and to perfect simulation technology that will be used to
monitor reliability of its nuclear weapons. A final test will
take place next month before the test site is shut down
permanently, French officials said.
But the latest accounts of radioactive leakage at the
Mururoa test site have raised questions about the credibility
of the French government's arguments that the nuclear
explosions present no environmental menace.
``There is no way to assess whether their is a coverup
because the French do now allow independent verification,''
said Tom Cochran, a nuclear-test specialist at the Natural
Resources Defense Council in Washington. ``What makes people
suspicious about whether they are hearing the truth is the
fact that these tests were really unnecessary in the first
place.''
France has already contended that its underground nuclear
blasts inflict no damage on the fragile ecology of the
Mururoa coral atoll, 750 miles southeast of Tahiti, which
serves as its principal test site. Explosive devices are
bored deep within the basalt foundation of the atoll, and
French scientists say the intense heat from the blast
vitrifies the rock and traps all radioactivity before it can
escape.
But Alain Barthoux, director of nuclear tests at France's
Atomic Energy Commission, acknowledged that traces of
radioactive material are usually ``vented'' into the lagoon
when scientists drill down into the rock to obtain samples
after every blast.
Barthoux claimed, however, that such leaks involve
``insignificant amounts'' of radioactive substances, such as
cesium, tritium or iodine, that vanish quickly in the
environment. Quantities of iodine-131, for example, which can
cause cancer when ingested by humans, shrink by half within
eight days and disappear entirely within 80 days, he said.
Barthoux denied a report in the Japan's Yomiuri Shimun
newspaper that small amounts of radioactive iodine were
continuing to leak into the water as a result of the latest
round of nuclear tests. The paper quoted sources at the
Geneva disarmament conference, where the global test-ban
treaty is being negotiated, as saying a French nuclear expert
disclosed the radiation leakage at a meeting in Washington
last November.
The French specialist was quoted as saying the information
was ``extremely confidential.''
France first acknowledged the release of radioactivity from
its nuclear tests when oceanographer Jacques Cousteau visited
the Mururoa site in 1987 and was allowed to conduct
independent tests of the water in the lagoon. He found the
presence of radioactive iodine, cesium, cobalt and europium,
but in quantities that were not considered dangerous.
But he warned the Mururoa's coral crown was deeply cracked
and could pose a problem if testing continued. He said risks
grew that higher levels of radioactive residue could seep
into the the lagoon.
French Defense Minister Charles Million denounced reports
from last year of widening fissures in the atoll as
``unreliable.'' Foreign Minister Herve de Charette told the
National Assembly that ``never have any cracks of any kind
been spotted.''
But a confidential Defense Ministry report acknowledged the
government has been aware, at least since 1979, that
Mururoa's underwater basalt foundation is fractured several
places.
____________________