French Senate to allow more nuclear compo claims

8:14 pm on 6 December 2018

The French Senate has approved $US3 million to allow more nuclear weapons test victims in French Polynesia to resubmit their compensation claims.

A nuclear explosion from an atomic bomb test, mushroom cloud.

A nuclear explosion from an atomic bomb test Photo: Supplied

This follows a French government directive to make it easier for those who had their applications rejected.

The 2010 law which recognised that the atomic tests had caused health problems had been seen as too restrictive and has subsequently been loosened.

This has cleared the way for more victims to resubmit their compensation claims.

A French Polynesian member of the Senate Lana Tetuanui has thanked the government for the funding in the name of French Polynesia, saying it is only fair given what French Polynesia has done for France with the weapons tests in Moruroa.

Last month, French Polynesia's president Edouard Fritch admitted in the territorial assembly that for 30 years he had lied about the effects of the French nuclear weapons tests.

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