Mururoa report ‘misleading’

Press, 9 July 1983, Page 14

Mururoa report ‘misleading’

PA Auckland The findings of a report on the ecological and geological consequences of nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll are misleading, says Greenpeace New Zealand. A spokesman for the antinuclear protest group, Ms Jane Cooper, has said that the report left several vital questions unanswered. The report, extracts of which were published by “Le Monde” newspaper this week, was written for the

President of France, Mr Mitterrand, by a scientific commission of eight. It said that radioactive contamination from nuclear explosions at the atoll had almost been nil since the tests had been carried out underground but also said that no answer had yet been found to the problem of storing radioactive waste. The report said, “There is no danger that it (the atoll) will vanish under the ocean,” although explosions

posed a threat of tidal waves. Ms Cooper said that the report admitted that radioactivity might be escaping from the cavity caused by nuclear explosions. “Given this very real possibility of radioactive leakage, and the fact that many radionuclides have extremely long half-lives, how can the report conclude that contamination is unlikely?” she said. “The report seems to ig-

nore the environmental impact of the irradiated waste which has accumulated in a 30,000 sq. m area at the northern end of Mururoa.” Greenpeace also doubted that official announcements of nuclear tests would allay public fears, as the report claimed. “The only way to improve the psychological atmosphere surrounding the tests is to stop conducting them once and for all,” Ms Cooper said.