The French state officially ceded a building to French Polynesia on Thursday to install the future archive, information and documentation center on nuclear tests.
From 1966 to 1996, the Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls were the site of 193 nuclear tests which had effects on the health and the environment of the populations. The High Commissioner Dominique Sorain and the president of Polynesia Edouard Fritsch signed Thursday "the act of transfer, free of charge" , by the State to Polynesia "of the buildings and the land hold of 3,200 m2 of the former naval command hotel located on the seafront of Papeete, " said a joint statement from the high commission and the Polynesian government.
Read also: France recognizes the health consequences of its nuclear tests in Polynesia
The building, valued at around 5.5 million euros, is to house the future archive, information and documentation center on nuclear tests, which will serve to store and transmit "the memory of events which took place during the nuclear test period, in a peaceful approach to the search for historical facts , "the press release said.
The National Assembly had voted in November 2018 for the State to transfer to Polynesia the building necessary for the creation of this memory center.
This transfer is in line with the recognition of the nuclear fact by former President François Hollande, during his official visit to French Polynesia, in February 2016.
