Scientists to inspect French test site

Press, 21 October 1983, Page 4

Scientists to inspect French test site

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney Australia yesterday finally decided to accept a French invitation to inspect the nuclear test site at Mururoa Atoll and French Polynesia, and two scien-

tists will join the team to be led by Dr Hugh Atkinson, of Christchurch. While the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Bill Hayden, has decided to accept the French offer, it is clear that the Australians are still unhappy about the conditions imposed on data and sample-gathering. A statement by his department talks of the scientific team’s being forced to accept more limited objectives than it would have liked, and gives a warning that expectations about the results of the expedition should not be exaggerated. A report on what the scientists find will be made public, but not for some time after the team returns home. The two Australian scientists will be Dr Peter Davis, of the Bureau of Mineral

Resources, and Dr Desmond Davy, of the Atomic Energy Commission.

According to the statement, the Australian scientists will concentrate on the geo-scientific aspects of the effects of the tests, while the New Zealand scientists and their Papua New Guinean colleague will look more at the biological effects of the tests on the population of Polynesia and the environment surrounding the atoll.

The arrangements, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs, do not fulfil the Australian requirements in that while the team will be able to collect its own samples from the sides of the atoll, it will be barred from what the French described as sensitive areas.