No Tahitian bouquets for French bomb success

The majority of French Polynesia’s politicians have refused to support a motion congratulating French scientists and technicians on “the remarkable performance constituted by the first French thermo nuclear experiment”.

When a motion to this effect was introduced in the Territorial Assembly at the end of August by a pro-de Gaulle minority group, the territory’s outspokenly anti-bomb majority parties defeated it by 12 votes to five.

One member, who said he was saddened by France’s entry into the thermo-nuclear club, added that “science without conscience is the ruin of the soul”.

France’s first thermo-nuclear explosion took place at Fangataufa Atoll, about 800 miles south-east of Tahiti, on August 24. Two other explosions followed at nearby Mururoa Atoll on September 8 and 9.

These ended the series for 1968, which was deemed highly successful by the French authorities.