French Nuclear Testing in the Pacific at Mururoa
New Zealand first became prevalent in its opposition to Nuclear Testing in the
Pacific during the mid-1960's where the French had begun to undertake
Nuclear Bomb Tests at Mururoa Atoll. (Also known to some as Moruroa). The Mururoa Atoll first became a protest point for many New Zealanders believing that this would only lead to a new war, except one with far more casualties. Despite the fact that in 1973 Australia and New Zealand took France to the International Court of Justice in order to ban the tests, however this was futile as the French ignored the Court's ruling to stop testing and carried on until 1974 when the atmospheric tests stopped. The island Fangatuafa in French Polynesia where Nuclear Testing was also carried out by the French there. Although there were no inhabitants on either of these islands the effects of the tests carried out still affected those in villages hundred's of kilometres away.
Pacific during the mid-1960's where the French had begun to undertake
Nuclear Bomb Tests at Mururoa Atoll. (Also known to some as Moruroa). The Mururoa Atoll first became a protest point for many New Zealanders believing that this would only lead to a new war, except one with far more casualties. Despite the fact that in 1973 Australia and New Zealand took France to the International Court of Justice in order to ban the tests, however this was futile as the French ignored the Court's ruling to stop testing and carried on until 1974 when the atmospheric tests stopped. The island Fangatuafa in French Polynesia where Nuclear Testing was also carried out by the French there. Although there were no inhabitants on either of these islands the effects of the tests carried out still affected those in villages hundred's of kilometres away.
American Nuclear Testing on the Marshall Islands
The Americans were also responsible for their tests as well which they carried out in the Marshall Islands, these were called the ' Pacific Proving Grounds'. This was used to name the Marshall as well as a few other test sites used by the United States to carry out their nuclear weapons testing post World War Two, which began in 1946 and continued testing until 1958. This was because in October 31 1958 at the Geneva Conference the United States Britain and Soviet Union undertook negotiations on the 'Discontinuance of Nuclear Weapons Tests'. The United States and Britain began a one year testing cessation, this prompted the Russia to join a few days later. The American testing concerns arose through President D. Eisenhower who on April 8 1958 organised a 'Conference of Experts' which involved verifying a nuclear test ban in response to Soviet Union's calls on March 31 1958 saying that they will, "unilaterally halt all nuclear testing provided Western nations stop testing." Despite the nuclear testing on the Pacific Proving Grounds ending, there were over 930 known nuclear tests on the Marshall Islands, including Hydrogen Bomb tests. The biggest of these was the Bravo shot which was a 15 megaton nuclear device that imploded on the surface of the Bikini Atoll on March 1st 1954, and was estimated to be the equivalent to 1000 Hiroshima's.
Key Historical Idea
The key historical idea here for New Zealanders was that, with the atmospheric test being visible here in New Zealand from over 5000 miles away how safe were we really, and would it be wise to be involved or let this weapons and power into our country if its affecting people a few islands away from the test sites. The slow accumulation of knowledge by New Zealand created a movement that was conscientious with how it believed nuclear power and weapons would affect the world. The people of New Zealand were beginning to take actions in causes that they believed to be of importance to them and directly affected them, this was expressed through our involvement of the Fri as well as the Rainbow Warrior. We also felt it was important to make sure that people knew that even though we were a small country, that we still had a voice worth listening to.