View source for Moruroa

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{short description|Atoll in French Polynesia}}
{{Infobox Islands
| name             = Moruroa
| image_name       = Moruroa atoll.JPG
| image_caption    = [[NASA]] picture of Moruroa Atoll
| map = French Polynesia
| map_caption = 
| native_name      =
| native_name_link = 
| nickname         =
| location         = [[Pacific Ocean]]
| coordinates      = {{Coord|21|50|S|138|50|W|type:isle_region:FR-PF|display=inline,title}}
| archipelago      = [[Tuamotus]]
| total_islands    = 
| major_islands    = 
| area_km2         = 148
| area_footnotes   =  {{sp}}(lagoon)<br />{{convert|15|km2|1|abbr=on}} ([[above sea level|above water]])
| length_km        = 28
| width_km         = 11
| highest_mount    = 
| elevation_m      = 
| country          = France
| country_admin_divisions_title     = [[Overseas collectivity]]
| country_admin_divisions           = [[French Polynesia]]
| country_admin_divisions_title_2   = [[Communes of France|Commune]]
| country_admin_divisions_2         = [[Tureia]]
| country_admin_divisions_title_1   = [[French Polynesia#Administrative divisions|Administrative subdivision]]
| country_admin_divisions_1         = [[Tuamotus]]
| country_capital_city              = 
| country_largest_city              = 
| country_largest_city_population   =
| country_leader_title              =
| country_leader_name               =
| population       = Uninhabited<ref>{{cite web|title=Population|url=http://www.ispf.pf/bases/Recensements/2012/Donnees_detaillees.aspx|website=Institut de la statistique de la Polynésie française|access-date=9 October 2014|archive-date=29 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329080620/http://www.ispf.pf/bases/Recensements/2012/Donnees_detaillees.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| population_as_of = 2012
| ethnic_groups    =
| additional_info  =
}}
'''Moruroa''' (Mururoa, Mururura), also historically known as '''Aopuni''',<ref name="Alternative Names">{{cite journal|last1=Young|first1=J.L.|title=Names of the Paumotu Islands, with the old names so far as they are known.|journal=Journal of the Polynesian Society|date=1899|volume=8|issue=4|pages=264–268|url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_8_1899/Volume_8,_No._4,_December_1899/Names_of_the_Paumotu_Islands,_by_J.L._Young,_p_264-268?action=null|access-date=7 January 2015}}</ref>  is an [[atoll]] which forms part of the [[Tuamotu Archipelago]] in [[French Polynesia]] in the southern [[Pacific Ocean]]. It is located about {{convert|1250|km}} southeast of [[Tahiti]]. Administratively Moruroa Atoll is part of the [[Commune of France|commune]] of [[Tureia]], which includes the atolls of [[Tureia]], [[Fangataufa]], [[Tematangi]] and [[Vanavana]]. France undertook [[nuclear weapon tests]] between 1966 and 1996 at Moruroa and [[Fangataufa]], causing international protests, notably in 1974 and 1995. The number of tests performed on Moruroa has been variously reported as 175 and 181.

==History==
[[File:Atoll Mururoa - Map.jpg|thumb|left|Moruroa]]
The first recorded visit this atoll was Commander [[Philip Carteret]] on HMS ''Swallow'' in 1767, just a few days after he had discovered [[Pitcairn Island]]. Carteret named Mururoa "Bishop of Osnaburgh Island".<ref name="DouglasDouglas1989">{{cite book|last1=Douglas|first1=Ngaire|last2=Douglas|first2=Norman|title=Pacific Islands Year Book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MTpBAAAAMAAJ|access-date=22 July 2012|year=1989|publisher=Pacific Publications|isbn=978-0-207-16114-8}}</ref> In 1792, the British whaler {{ship||Matilda|1790 ship|2}} was wrecked here, and it became known as Matilda's Rocks.<ref name="DouglasDouglas1989"/> [[Frederick William Beechey]] visited it in 1826.<ref name="DouglasDouglas1989"/>

Early European explorers found that the atoll was not continuously inhabited. In 1826 Beechey found it empty. A visit in 1832 found "dwellings but no inhabitants".<ref name=iaea1>{{cite web |url=https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1028_web.pdf |title=The Radiological Situation at the Atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa |publisher=IAEA |date=1998 |pages=23–24 |access-date=25 February 2021}}</ref> A visiting ship in 1834 killed all but three of the inhabitants it found there, and it was unclaimed in 1847.<ref name=iaea1/> It was briefly inhabited by copra workers in the late nineteenth century, and again from 1942 to 1943 and 1950–52, but has had no permanent inhabitation since.<ref name=iaea1/>

===French nuclear weapons testing===
[[File:Mururoa lg.jpg|thumb|left|[[KH-7 Gambit|KH-7]] satellite reconnaissance image of the Mururoa Atomic Test Site in French Polynesia, 26 May 1967]]

Mururoa, and its sister atoll Fangataufa, were the site of extensive [[French nuclear testing|nuclear testing by France]] between 1966 and 1996, as well as the site of numerous protests by various vessels, including the ''[[Rainbow Warrior (1978)|Rainbow Warrior]]''.<ref name="Stanley2000">{{cite book|last=Stanley|first=David|title=South Pacific Handbook|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_w6zguqsU7x0C|access-date=22 July 2012|date=1 January 2000|publisher=David Stanley|isbn=978-1-56691-172-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_w6zguqsU7x0C/page/n261 262]}}</ref> The atoll was officially established as a nuclear test site by France on 21 September 1962, when the [[Direction des Centres d'Expérimentations Nucléaires]] (DIRCEN) was established to administer the nuclear testing.<ref name="MaclellanChesneaux1998">{{cite book|last1=Maclellan|first1=Nic|last2=Chesneaux|first2=Jean|title=After Moruroa: France in the South Pacific|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ao10AAAAMAAJ|access-date=22 July 2012|year=1998|publisher=Ocean Press|isbn=978-1-876175-05-4}}</ref> This followed with the construction of various infrastructures on the atoll commencing in May 1963. The atoll of [[Hao (French Polynesia)|Hao]], {{convert|245|nmi|km mi|-1|lk=in}} to the north-west of Mururoa, was chosen as a support base for the nuclear tests and other operations.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cyberplace.org.nz/peace/nukenviro.html |title=Environmental Effects of French Nuclear Testing |publisher= |date= |access-date=25 February 2021}}</ref>

Despite objections from some 30 members of the [[Polynesian Territorial Assembly]], the first nuclear test was conducted on 2 July 1966, code named Aldebaran, when a [[plutonium]] fission bomb was exploded in the lagoon.<ref name="Stanley2004">{{cite book|last=Stanley|first=David|title=Moon Handbooks South Pacific|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_EDGapfBX-CAC|access-date=22 July 2012|date=3 December 2004|publisher=David Stanley|isbn=978-1-56691-411-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_EDGapfBX-CAC/page/n134 115]}}</ref><ref name="Weyler2004"/> [[Greenpeace]] states in a 21st-century study that the explosion sucked all the water from the lagoon, "raining dead fish and mollusks down on the atoll", and that it spread contamination across the Pacific as far as Peru and New Zealand.<ref name="Stanley2004"/><ref name="Weyler2004">{{cite book|last=Weyler|first=Rex | author-link = Rex Weyler |title=Greenpeace: How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists, and Visionaries Changed the World|url=https://archive.org/details/greenpeacehowgro00weyl|url-access=registration|access-date=22 July 2012|date=6 October 2004|publisher=[[Rodale, Inc.|Rodale]]|isbn=978-1-59486-106-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/greenpeacehowgro00weyl/page/134 134]}}</ref> President [[Charles de Gaulle]] himself was present at Moruroa on 10 September 1966 when a test was conducted, using a device suspended from a balloon.<ref name="Stanley2000"/> Most of these tests were conducted on the western end of the atoll, designated as Dindon.<ref name="BiedermannMills1990">{{cite book|last1=Biedermann|first1=Andy|last2=Mills|first2=Stephanie|title=Testimonies: witnesses of French nuclear testing in the South Pacific|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7wvcAAAAMAAJ|access-date=22 July 2012|year=1990|publisher=Greenpeace International|page=21|isbn=9780473010089}}</ref> Smaller blasts were detonated on the northern end of the atoll, designated as Denise.<ref name="BiedermannMills1990"/> Three nuclear explosive devices were detonated on [[barge]]s, three were air dropped from [[bombers]], and the rest were suspended from [[helium]] filled [[balloons]]. A total of 41 atmospheric nuclear tests were conducted at Mururoa between 1966 and 1974.<ref name="Stanley2004"/><ref name="ABC">{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/quantum/info/mururoa.htm|title=Mururoa. How safe are the French tests?|publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|access-date=22 July 2012}}</ref>

[[File:Mururoa lagon.jpg|thumb|The lagoon of Mururoa, 1972]]
[[File:Mururoa.December.2005.JPG|thumb|View on Mururoa, 2005]]
France abandoned atmospheric nuclear testing  in 1974 and moved to underground testing in the midst of intense world pressure which was sparked by the [[Third Labour Government of New Zealand|New Zealand Government of the time]], which sent two frigates in July 1973, [[HMNZS Canterbury (F421)|HMNZS ''Canterbury'']] and ''[[HMNZS Otago (F111)|Otago]]'', to the atoll in protest for a [[nuclear free Pacific]]. Shafts were drilled deep into the volcanic rocks underlying the atolls where nuclear devices were detonated. This practice created much controversy as cracking of the atolls was discovered, resulting in fears that the [[radioactive]] material trapped under the atolls would eventually escape and contaminate the surrounding ocean and neighbouring atolls, a case of so-called [[tired mountain syndrome]]. A major accident occurred on 25 July 1979 when a test was conducted at half the usual depth because the nuclear device got stuck halfway down the 800 metre shaft.<ref name="Stanley2000"/> It was detonated and caused a large submarine landslide on the southwest rim of the atoll, causing a significant chunk of the outer slope of the atoll to break loose and causing a tsunami affecting Mururoa and injuring workers.<ref name="Stanley2000"/> The blast caused a 2 kilometre long and 40&nbsp;cm wide crack to appear on the atoll.<ref name="Stanley2000"/>

French president [[Jacques Chirac]]'s decision to run a nuclear test series at Mururoa on 5 September and 2 October 1995, just one year before the [[Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty|Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty]] was to be signed, caused worldwide protests, including an [[Economic sanctions|embargo]] of French wine.<ref name="Stanley2000"/> Riots took place across Polynesia, and the [[South Pacific Forum]] threatened to suspend France.<ref name="Stanley2000"/> These tests were meant to provide France with enough data to improve further nuclear technology without needing additional series of tests. The last nuclear test on Moruroa occurred on 27 December 1995.

The test site at Mururoa was dismantled following France's last nuclear test to date, which took place on 27 January 1996 on Fangataufa. In total, 181 explosions took place at Moruroa, 41 of which were atmospheric.<ref name="Stanley2004"/> However, the total number has been variously reported: nuclear scientists working at the site claim 175 explosions in total took place in the Pacific.<ref name="ABC"/>

===Aftermath===
As of October 2005, it is still prohibited to visit Moruroa, according to the [[French Polynesia]]'s president, [[Oscar Temaru]], due to the high levels of radioactive contamination.<ref>{{Cite web |title=High levels of radioactive contamination in French Polynesia |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/high-levels-of-radioactive-contamination-in-french-polynesia/GSPDCB2IFSN32DOCMHKOTVNHI4/ |access-date=3 April 2022 |website=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |language=en-NZ}}</ref> The atoll is still guarded by [[Military of France|French Forces]].

== Monitoring ==
A report from 2012 suggested that only 11 of the 20 monitoring system sensors are actually functional, which could mean the atoll could potentially collapse without forewarning of the monitoring system.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ladepeche.pf/actu/nucleaire-moruroa-reclame-«-le-droit-de-savoir-» |title=NUCLEAIRE - Moruroa réclame 'le droit de savoir'| work=[[La Dépêche de Tahiti|La Depeche]]|date=1 April 2012|access-date=22 July 2012|language=fr}}</ref>

In February 2021, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research [[Inserm|INSERM]] published a report  entitled "Nuclear tests and health - Consequences in French Polynesia".<ref name=INSERM2020/> The objective of this study was to establish an assessment of the available international scientific knowledge on the health consequences of the atmospheric nuclear tests conducted by France in French Polynesia, on the general population and former civilian and military workers.<ref name=INSERM2020>{{Cite book|last=INSERM|url=https://www.inserm.fr/sites/default/files/media/entity_documents/Inserm_ExpertiseCollective_EssaisNucleaires2021_RapportComplet.pdf|title=Essais nucléaires et santé – Conséquences en Polynésie française|publisher=EDP Sciences|year=2020|isbn=978-2-7598-2472-4|series=Expertise Collective|location=Paris|language=fr|access-date=6 March 2021|archive-date=6 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306163204/https://www.inserm.fr/sites/default/files/media/entity_documents/Inserm_ExpertiseCollective_EssaisNucleaires2021_RapportComplet.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Bengt Danielsson]], a member of the ''[[Kon-Tiki expedition|Kon-Tiki]]'' crew; an outspoken critic of nuclear testing
* {{sectionlink|Gambier Islands#Effects of French nuclear testing}}
* [[France and weapons of mass destruction]]
* [[List of nuclear weapons tests of France|List of nuclear weapons tests by France]]
* [[New Zealand nuclear-free zone]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{Cite news |last=Beech |first=Hannah |last2=Ferguson |first2=Adam |date=2024-07-30 |title=Olympic Surfing Comes to a 'Poisoned' Paradise |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/30/world/olympics/olympics-tahiti-nuclear-testing.html |access-date=2024-08-12 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |url-access=subscription}}
*{{cite book|last1=Wright|first1=Gerry|title=Operation Pilaster: The Story of the Voyages by the Frigates HMNZ Ships Otago and Canterbury, Supported by the Australian Naval Tanker, HMAS Supply, to Protest Against the French Atmospheric Nuclear Tests at Mururoa Atoll in 1973|date=2015|publisher=Gerry Wright|location=Auckland|isbn=9780473327712}}

== External links ==
* {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.point-zero-canopus.org Archives sur le Centre d'Expérimentations Nucléaires du Pacifique (C.E.P.) à Mururoa, Hao et Fangataufa]
* [http://www.obsarm.org/ Centre de Documentation et de Recherche sur la Paix et les Conflits]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/quantum/info/mururoa.htm An Australian Broadcasting Corporation interview with various nuclear scientists on Moruroa]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130926093601/http://www.com.univ-mrs.fr/IRD/atollpol/irdpoly/uksalv85.htm Classification of the French Polynesian atolls by Salvat (1985)]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/27/france-nuclear-tests-illness France finally agrees to pay damages to nuclear test victims]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110723050155/http://www.mururoavet.com/ Mururoa Veterans]

{{Tuamotus}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Atolls of the Tuamotus]]
[[Category:French nuclear test sites]]