Atomic boom to tourist boom
p. 29 · Read in the full issue
tourist boom
Two nuclear devices exploded at Mururoa atoll in the Tuamotus in June in the face of protests from Fiji and other countries were described as “perfectly satisfactory” by Vice-Mar shal Garden, Air Force Vice-Marshal in charge of the tests.
He said the first test, involving a 10 to 15 kiloton device was intended for warheads on Jaguar and Mirage 111 fighters, and the second, in the half megaton range, was for nuclear submarines. They were part of a total of six to eight tests.
About the time the atomic cloud was mushrooming above the Mururoa lagoon, the United Nations was con sidering the fate of another island devastated by atomic blasts—Bikini atoll, site of the United States first postwar atomic tests which the US hopes will become a tourist resort. Re porting to the UN on its Trust Terri tories, the US said the atoll showed promise of a boom over the next few years.