France told to compensate test victim

4:17 pm on 12 March 2015

The administrative appeal court in the French city of Bordeaux has ordered that the defence ministry make a compensation offer to a former military technician who fell ill after working on the nuclear weapons test site in French Polynesia.

The test veterans organisation says since 1993 Daniel Grossat has been suffering from a brain cancer which has made him a tetraplegic.

Moruroa

Moruroa nuclear test veterans struggle to get compensation for illnesses caused by radiation Photo: AFP

It says he had worked on radars on Hao atoll from 1970 to 1972 and on Moruroa from 1973 until 1975.

It also says the nuclear test fallout that reached Papeete affected his wife and daughter, who now also has cancer.

In January, the same court gave nine former nuclear test veterans the right to be compensated by the state for damage to their health.

Their case had first been heard last year when their lawyers challenged the terms of the 2010 compensation law, which has been widely criticised as being too restrictive.

So far only a handful of claims out of more than 800 have been accepted since the law came into effect.