TEST IN SAHARA

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28979, 21 August 1959, Page 13

TEST IN SAHARA

Date Kept Secret

PARIS, August 19.

The French Minister responsible for atomic affairs (Mr Soustelle) said in an interview published in Paris today that France has largely wiped out her arrears in the atomic field.

In the interview with “ParisPresse,” Mr Soustelle outlined the country’s atomic energy programme.

Questioned about the atomic bomb, he said the date set for it to be tested was secret and he could not say whether it would be exploded in the air or underground.

Mr Soustelle said France now possessed mining resources which enabled her to meet her uranium requirements and, perhaps, to envisage uranium exports. Three atomic power stations at present planned or under construction would be followed by a fourth in 1962. In '965 to 1966 atomic installations would be producing about a million kilowatts.

France was also continuing work on atomic naval propulsion, and intended to construct a uranium isotope separation plant. "The Times” today expressed doubts about the ability of France to develop an atomic armoury. “We hear much about France’s determination to explode her own atomic bomb, but little about her precise purpose in doing so,” “The Times”, said. "There is little guidance to be got from official statements that France must become a nuclear Power if she is to have prestige in the world.