Article: French nuclear tests in Algeria: a past still present
Today, we commemorate the 64th anniversary of the first French nuclear test in Algeria, carried out in 1960. This significant event in history left indelible traces on Algerian territory and continues to raise concerns about the decontamination of nuclear sites. Reggane and In Ekker, as well as nuclear waste management.
Algeria has formally asked France, in 2021, to assume full responsibility for site rehabilitation operations and to provide topographical maps to locate nuclear waste storage areas. For Algeria, this is a priority to turn the page on the colonial period and guarantee the environmental security of these regions.
Jean-Marie Collin, director of Ican France, the French branch of the international campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons, emphasizes that the recognition of the victims of French nuclear tests was obtained thanks to pressure from civil society and the promulgation of the “Morin law”. This law aims to compensate potential victims of French nuclear tests, but remains little known in Algeria.
However, the question of site decontamination is a more recent subject and constitutes a major issue. Investigations carried out by Ican France and the Armaments Observatory revealed that there had been a deliberate policy of burying radioactive waste on the part of the French state. Until now, France refuses to communicate the lists of buried waste and the exact locations where they are located. It is on this point that Algeria and civil society expect progress from France.
French nuclear tests took place in the Algerian Sahara between 1960 and 1966, with a total of seventeen tests.