Radiological impact of French nuclear tests found negligible

An international study, initiated by the IAEA in April 1996, was designed to assess the residual radiological conditions at the atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa, in French Polynesia, were France conducted 193 nuclear experiments above and beneath the atolls between July 1966 and January 1996. The study found that there will be no radiation health effects which could be either medically diagnosed in an individual or epidemiologicaly discerned in a group of people and which would be attributable to the estimated radiation doses that are now being received or that would be received in future by people as a result of the residual radioactive material at the atolls. The study also indicated there will be no changes in cancer incidence rates in the region attributable to radiation exposure caused by residual radioactive material at the atolls. It found that the dose rates to native biota were similar to or lower than those due to natural radiation sources, in the great majority of cases. An exception is the potentially high dose rates that could be experienced by individual members of some species owing to plutonium contained in particulates. It concluded that the expected radiation dose rates and modes of exposure are such that no effects on biota population groups could arise. It also concluded that no remedial action at Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls is needed on radiological protection grounds, either now or in the future. Similarly, the study concluded that no further environmental monitoring at the atolls is needed for purposes of radiological assessment