Environmental monitoring associated with nuclear testing in French Polynesia

The realization of the programme of nuclear experiments in French Polynesia was accompanied by the installation by a radiological monitoring device of the environment, either the physical environment or biological, continental or marine, vegetable or animal, in order to make sure of the absence of risk for the populations. This device took all its importance with the tests carried out in the atmosphere between 1966 and 1974. Its implementation required important means in hardware and manpower with the intervention of civil and military or sometimes mixed organizations. The monitoring was naturally done in a very complete way in the zones close to the sites of tests, but also on the whole of the Polynesian territory, in particular the most populated atolls. It also carried, but in a less extended way, on remote zones, like the Andean countries, because of their geographical location. The results obtained by the various involved laboratories were gathered and interpreted in order to ensure information of the persons in charge and the authorities, in particular in Polynesia and through them the population. They were each year transmitted to the scientific committee of the United Nations for the study of the effects of ionizing radiations (UNSCEAR). The surveillance device is thus described, apart from the zones close to the zones of testing, with the presentation of the various implied organizations and the various monitoring programs. (authors)