CURRENT INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY SPECIAL REPORT FRENCH NUCLEAR TEST PROGRAM IN THE PACIFIC

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-00927A005300050004-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 29, 2007
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: June 3, 1966
• Content Type: REPORT

 Approved For Releas 07/03/29: CIA-RDP79-00927AO05 50004-7
w Vi
Approved For Release 2007/03/29: CIA-RDP79-00927AO05300050004-7
 Approved For Release 2007/03/29: CIA-RDP79-00927AO05300050004-7
SECRET
FRENCH NUCLEAR TEST PROGRAM IN THE PACIFIC
France soon will begin atmospheric nuclear test-
ing in the Pacific. The test site, under construc-
tion since 1963, is on Mururoa Atoll 650 miles south-
east of Tahiti in French Polynesia.
The French have not yet announced a date for
the initial Pacific test. The installation of in-
strumentation reportedly will be completed by the
first week in June and testing could begin as early
as the middle of the month. There has been specula-
tion in the press that France might time its first
test to coincide with De Gaulle's tri
20 June
es ing wi bog in in u y, wi the
precise date chosen on the basis of short-range mete-
orological conditions. Eo 12356 1.3 (a) (4)
France is not a signatory
of the Limited Test Ban Treaty,
but since 1961 it has restricted
its program to underground nu-
clear testing in the Sahara.
Information obtainable only from
atmospheric tests, however, has
become increasingly important as
France has moved forward with
nuclear weapons development.
Paris has long anticipated the
need to resume atmospheric test-
ing, and began some four years
ago to look for a new test site.
In 1963 the selection of French
Polynesia was announced and con-
struction began there the same
year.
The agreement between France
and Algeria permits use of the
Sahara test center until mid-1967.
However, the French now appear
to be abandoning their Algerian
facilities. Paris is unlikely
to keep the Sahara test center
in operation after testing be-
gins in the Pacific.
Facilities in Polynesia
The Pacific test center con-
sists of a rear support base at
Tahiti, a forward support base
at Hao, and test sites at Mururoa
and Fagataufa atolls. Weather
and instrumentation stations and
emergency airfields are being
built on islands throughout French
Polynesia. Facilities at Tahiti,
the capital of. French Polynesia,
are primarily for administration,
logistics, and housing. Nuclear
materials and other components
for the test devices apparently
are being delivered directly to
f[ao, where a harbor and airstrip
have been built. The nuclear
devices will be assembled there
before delivery to Mururoa for,
testing. At Mururoa there is an
airstrip, a support area, and
two test sites. Fagataufa, a
small atoll some 30 miles south-
east of Mururoa, probably will
be used as a high-yield test site
later in the program.
Support Flights Over Panama
In early March, Panama
granted overflight rights for
SECRET
Page 1 SPECIAL REPORT 3 Jun 6'6
Approved For Release 2007/03/29: CIA-RDP79-00927AO05300050004-7
 Approved FRelease 2007/03/29: CIA-RDP79-OOA005300050004-7
SECRET
SECRET
FRENCH PACIFIC
NUCLEAR
TEST CENTER
Approved For Release 2007/03/29: CIA-RDP79-00927AO05300050004-7
 Approved For Release 2007/03/29: CIA-RDP79-00927AO05300050004-7
E~"12356 1.3 (a) (4)
SECRET
French planes en route to the
Polynesian test center. Since
then, the French have made regu-
lar flights by this route, re-
fueling at Pointe-a-Pitre, Gua-
deloupe. Nuclear material and Eo
components will probably be de-
livered from France to the Pa-
cific by this route.
Program Burdens French Military
The geographic isolation
of the Pacific test center has
created complications in con-
struction, manpower, and logis-
tics and has resulted in higher
costs than originally antici-
pated by the French. The cost of
building and operating the test
center through 1970 is estimated
at 5.7 billion francs (US $1.2
billion), some 40 percent higher
than publicly authorized for the
program.
The excess is largely made
up of indirect support costs
absorbed by the operating budg-
ets of the armed forces and
other ministries. Such "hidden
expenses" have 'forced a reduc-
tion in the funds available for
the purchase of conventional
military equipment. The French
Navy is particularly hard hit
by the high priority of the nu-
clear test program, with nearly
half of France's naval tonnage
reportedly slated to support the
Pacific tests.
Radiation Danger Zones
On 17 May, Paris issued a
warning to shipping and air traf-
fic in anticipation of the im-
pending test program at Mururoa.
A circle with a radius of 120
FRENCH NUCLEAR TESTS
IN i 1 R 1.3 (a)
13 FEB 60 1
1 APR 60 2
27 DEC 60 3
25 APR 61 4
7 NOV 61 5
1 MAY 62 6
18 MAR 63 7
30 MAR 63 8
20 OCT 63 9
14 FEB 64 10
15 JUN 64 11
28 NOV 64 12
27 FEB 65 13
30 MAY 65 14
1 OCT 65 15
1 DEC 65 16
16 FEB 66 17
smiles from the atoll was de-
scribed as the prime danger zone
for shipping. Air traffic was
warned to stay at least 200
miles from the test site. More-
over, the French announced that
the danger zone might be extended
eastward as much as 400 miles,
probably depending on winds at
the time of each test.
World Opposition
World opposition to French
atmospheric testing is unlikely
to have any effect on De Gaulle's
determination to carry out a full
1;est program in the Pacific. The
roost vocal opposition to the
forthcoming test series has come
from Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and
Page 3
SECRET
SPECIAL REPORT 3 Jun 66
Approved For Release 2007/03/29: CIA-RDP79-00927AO05300050004-7
 Approved FRelease 2007/03/29: CIA-RDP79-0(7A005300050004-7
SECRET
Colombia, all of which border on
the Pacific some 4,000 miles from
the test site. While westerly
winds during much of the year
would carry nuclear debris in the
direction of South America, French
testing is unlikely to cause any
appreciable increase in radiation
levels there.
France has announced that
tests will take place only when
winds are from the southwest,
carrying nuclear debris clear of
Pitcairn Island. Despite French
assurances;, that British depend-
ency, only 300 miles southeast
of the test site, stands in the
greatest danger from the forth-
coming test series.
The French are expected to
conduct about six tests at Mururoa
this year. For the first year or
two Pacific tests probably will
concentrate on an improved fis-
sion weapon to be used with
France's Mirage IV bombers, on
warheads for the French IRBM now
under development, and on the
development of components for
thermonuclear weapons. All of
the early explosions are ex-
pected to have yields less than
several hundred kilotons.
(France's largest test so far,
an underground explosion in Al-
geria, had a yield of 130 kilo-
tons.)
At some point early in the
Pacific test series the French
probably will test an operational
fission weapon under actual air-
drop conditions. A Mirage IV
bomber which overflew the US en
route to the Pacific in mid-May
will probably be used for the
airdrop. Other tests will in-
volve devices suspended from
balloons or mounted on barges in
Mururoa lagoon.
The Program's Future
Later in the program the
French will direct their test
program toward a warhead for a
submarine-launched ballistic
missile and the development of
a therm9nuclear on
(SECRET 1 71
SE%_4AIL ET
Page 4 SPECIAL REPORT
Approved For Release 2007/03/29: CIA-RDP79-00927A005300050004-7
 Approved For Release 2007/03/29: CIA-RDP79-00927AO05300050004-7
SOO,
SECRET
SECRET
Approved For Release 2007/03/29: CIA-RDP79-00927AO05300050004-7