January 28, 1996
Web posted at: 12:00 p.m. EST (1700 GMT)
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- The sixth in a series of French nuclear tests triggered a new outrage in Asia and the South Pacific Sunday, but there also was hope that the underground blast in French Polynesia will be the last.
Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines condemned the test, which took place at the remote Fangataufa atoll at 4:30 p.m. EST Saturday (9:30 p.m. GMT). The shock wave from the blast briefly turned the lagoon an eerie, frothing white. (629K QuickTime movie)
"We want this to be the finish"
-- New Zealand Prime Minister Jim Bolger (119K AIFF sound or 119K WAV sound)
The test was more than six times the power of the bomb dropped in 1945 on Hiroshima, Japan, the French Defense Ministry said, making it the most powerful explosion since France ended a 1992 moratorium and resumed atomic testing last year.
French President Jacques Chirac indicated the series might end with six blasts, meaning Saturday's test may be the last. It will take several days to make a decision based on the quality of scientific data gathered, French officials said.
"All depends on the quality of the test . . . If it succeeds as well as the five others, perhaps there will only be six. If our officials believe they need more data, then there will be a seventh," an official close to Chirac said.
Chirac has promised to sign a treaty banning all nuclear testing after the completion of the testing. Even if there is a seventh explosion, the blasting is to be completed by the end of February, he said. France has said it conducted the tests to guarantee the safety and reliability of its nuclear arsenal.
"We want this to be the finish," said New Zealand Prime Minister Jim Bolger, indicating the six tests done so far already are "too many."
"There is no such thing as a safe nuclear test," Bolger said. Chirac maintains the tests are "ecologically harmless."
Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating said the test was irresponsible and could derail current talks in Geneva on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
"The French government is to be strongly condemned," Keating said. Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans called France's action "irresponsible."
Japan, the only country ever to suffer atomic bombing, voiced deep regret and urged Paris to halt further blasts.
"It is extremely regrettable," Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said. The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two cities bombed in 1945, also protested.
The Philippines accused France of flouting the spirit of a recent Southeast Asian anti-nuclear treaty.
"The Filipino people, and I personally, once again condemn in the strongest terms the latest test," President Fidel Ramos said.
"They are destroying an environment that doesn't really belong to them"
-- Australian father (94K AIFF sound or 94K WAV sound)
The resumption of nuclear tests has led to anti-French protest marches. The environmental group Greenpeace, which has led a flotilla to the South Pacific in unsuccessful efforts to stop the tests, said the blast was scandalous and a snub to the test ban treaty negotiators.
Chirac has triggered successive waves of outrage since he ended the 1992 moratorium declared by his late Socialist predecessor, Francois Mitterrand. He did reduce the number of tests from the eight announced in June.
France is the only official member of the nuclear club still testing, apart from China. The latest test was the 198th since France acquired the nuclear bomb in 1960, when the late president Charles de Gaulle detonated a device over the Sahara Desert. Chirac travels to the United States for a three-day visit on February 1, and will address a joint session of Congress on Thursday.
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