France detonates 6th nuclear test bomb

January 27, 1996

Web posted at: 7:15 p.m. EST (0015 GMT)

PARIS (CNN) -- At 10:30 p.m. Paris time Saturday, 4:30 p.m. EST, France detonated its sixth underground nuclear test bomb in the Pacific Ocean.

The bomb, which French officials said was equivalent to less than 129 kilotons of conventional explosives, was the last in a planned series of six nuclear blasts in French Polynesia. Saturday's explosion in the Fangataufa Atoll was the largest of the series.

According to the French Defense Ministry, the prime objective of the tests was "to guarantee the security and viability" of France's nuclear arsenal.

The government also maintains that the tests will allow for the development of simulation technology that will make further testing unnecessary.

The tests, which began in September, have prompted an international outcry by environmental groups and governments in the region.

The French government responded to the protests by scaling back the number of detonations from eight to six and promising to sign the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty by May.

The underground tests violate a 1992 moratorium declared by former Socialist President Francois Mitterrand, who died of cancer early this month after leaving office in May 1995.

The test was the 197th since France acquired the nuclear bomb in 1960. That year, it dropped a test bomb over the Sahara Desert in Algeria.

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