France is compelled to clean up its nuclear sites in Southern Algeria

Algeria’s repeated requests to France to clean up sites contaminated by nuclear explosions in the south of the country in the 1960s are “perfectly legitimate,” said Patrice Bovary, director of the Arms Observatory, an independent French body specialized in expertise and documentation on nuclear tests.

“The request of the Algerian authorities to decontaminate the sites is undoubtedly important and completely legitimate,” the co-founder and director of the Weapons Observatory, an independent French body specialized in expertise and documentation on nuclear tests, told the Algerian Press Agency (APS).

President of the Republic Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune had called on France to clean up sites contaminated by nuclear explosions in an address to the two chambers of parliament last December, saying, “Don’t give us money, but come and clean up the dirt you left behind.”

In January, Minister of Environment and Quality of Life Najiba Djillali pointed out that colonial France is responsible for an environmental disaster in the south of the country, demanding that it “fully assume its historical, moral and legal responsibilities for the disposal of radioactive waste.”

“The main obstacle is the lack of political will on the part of the French authorities to concretely bear the consequences of their nuclear policy,” he regretted, emphasizing that ”the main obstacle is the lack of political will on the part of the French authorities to bear the consequences of their nuclear policy.

In response to a question on the subject of the 2010 Morin Law, which theoretically aims to allow compensation for victims of French nuclear explosions, Bovary emphasized that the real purpose of this law is to limit the beneficiaries of compensation.

“The Morin Law, named after the Minister of Defense when it was adopted in Parliament, unfortunately achieved its goal, namely to give the impression of taking into account the health consequences of the nuclear explosions carried out by France, but by limiting as much as possible the number of beneficiaries of compensation,” he said, referring in this regard to the small number of people benefiting from compensation, especially in Algeria, where only two people have been compensated.

In addition to parliamentary action, the French government could take initiatives by simple decree, such as expanding the list of diseases that give the right to compensation, or modifying the areas in the Sahara where people had to reside for their files to be accepted, the expert added.