A French Polynesian member of the French National Assembly Jean-Paul Tuaiva has raised his concerns about the revision of the nuclear compensation law.
In 1995, the announcement by France that it would resume nuclear testing in French Polynesia sparked the Tahiti riots. They caused millions of dollars worth of damage. Photo: AFP
A decree is about to be approved in Paris that will amend the 2010 law by loosening the criteria for claims to be accepted.
Tuaiva has asked the French government to reconsider compensation claims which had been rejected - a call already made by two other Assembly members.
Tuiava's move comes a day before the appeal court is due to rule on his embezzlement case.
In June, he was given a two-year suspended prison sentence and declared ineligible for office for five years for embezzling about US$200,000 in subsidies from his parliamentary attribution to an association in Tahiti, which then disbursed the money back to him.
The money was used to finance a trip to the United States, buy jewellery, and pay two men to work in restaurants owned by Tuaiva.
Tuaiva has already said he will quit politics at the end of his term.
France tested its atomic weapons first in Algeria and then from 1966 to 1996 in the South Pacific in a programme which involved more than 100,000 personnel.
