Key facts
- France conducted 17 nuclear tests in Algeria between 1960 and 1966.
- The first test, Gerboise Bleue, in 1960, was four times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.
- Radioactive fallout spread across a vast area, causing health issues and environmental contamination.
- France has not provided maps of contaminated sites or acknowledged the full extent of the fallout.
- French laws restrict access to military archives related to nuclear weapons.
- Algerian authorities are seeking French cooperation for the rehabilitation of contaminated areas.
Sixty years after France's first nuclear test in Algeria, the legacy of these colonial-era experiments continues to radiate, impacting the health and environment of the Saharan population. The 70-kiloton Gerboise Bleue bomb, detonated on February 13, 1960, in Reggane, was four times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima, spreading radioactive fallout across a vast area. This was followed by 16 more nuclear tests conducted by France in Algeria until 1966, leaving behind contaminated sites and a population suffering from increased rates of cancer and other radiation-related illnesses.
Algerian engineer Mokhtar Benabdelkader recounts his grandfather Mohamed's vivid memories of the blinding light and earth-shattering sound of the first explosion, and the subsequent years of battling liver cancer, a disease that afflicted many in his village. The French army has refused to provide Algeria with maps detailing the locations of buried equipment and waste, a move historian Samia Henni describes as part of a "colonialist project" that obscures the violence and long-term reach of colonial toxicity. Henni notes that the population in the Reggane region has halved since the tests.
France maintains that its nuclear archives are subject to strict military secrecy, with laws enacted in 2008 and 2021 further restricting declassification. This secrecy prevents the release of information that could lead to financial and moral reparations. A study by Ican members has identified significant radioactive waste in the Algerian Sahara, prompting Algerian authorities, including President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and army chief of staff Said Chengriha, to call for French cooperation in rehabilitating the contaminated areas. However, France has consistently evaded these requests, with potential reasons including domestic political sensitivities and a reluctance to undermine its nuclear deterrence doctrine.
Meanwhile, charitable organizations like El Geith El Kadem in Adrar report a worrying resurgence in cancer, birth defects, and infertility, with diseases linked to radioactivity reportedly being passed down through generations.