Algeria begins partial clearance of French nuclear testing sites
Algeria on Friday launched the first partial clean-up operation at one of the nuclear blast sites carried out by France in the country’s desert during the colonial era in the 1960s.
On the 66th anniversary of the French nuclear tests that continue to pollute large areas of the country’s territory and cause permanent disabilities to the population.
Algeria has begun the first partial clean-up of the sites of the French nuclear testing site “Beryl”, at the site of “Taourirt Tan Afla en Ecker” in the province of Tamanrasset, in the far south, after decades of studies and planning, and with national efforts and capabilities.
The announcement of the operation was made in a documentary broadcast by the Algerian Ministry of Defense’s Directorate of Information and Communication, titled “Algerians at the Heart of Challenges”, detailing the first steps to clear the sites.
Algeria’s start to disinfect nuclear test sites comes after repeated demands to the French authorities to hand over maps of nuclear waste landfills, which continue to contaminate large areas of territory.
The documentary explained that the “N Acre” area previously witnessed an underground explosion with a power of 150,000 tons of TNT, which caused the leakage of radioactive gases that led to the total destruction of the ecosystem.
He pointed out that the region still suffers from the emissions of lethal substances such as cesium-137 and plutonium to this day.
The ongoing clean-up follows a thorough assessment of health and environmental risks by Algerian experts, where a first-of-its-kind partial disinfection camp has been set up at the site, setting up a model for a comprehensive rehabilitation of all bomb sites in the future.
The field plan relies on the use of specialized equipment to collect and store nuclear waste in concrete containers designed for this purpose, while strictly adhering to security and safety standards, in light of the great challenge represented in the absence of maps and technical archives, which France refuses to hand, which complicates the task of accurately identifying radioactive areas.
In this context, the documentary quoted nuclear physicist Ammar Mansouri as saying that the clean-up process comes after the intervention of experts and qualified Algerian manpower and an assessment of the degree of environmental pollution and health risks associated with this heinous nuclear explosion.
“A partial clearance camp, the first of its kind at the site level, has been set up as a model for a radical and comprehensive future rehabilitation of other sites,” he said.
The operation is based on “harnessing human resources and specialized equipment to collect waste and store it inside concrete containers prepared for this purpose, taking into account security and safety measures”, he said.
He pointed out that this operation is taking place in the absence of maps and their French archives, which complicates “the task of identifying radioactive areas in our great south”.
On February 13 of each year, Algeria commemorates the first nuclear test conducted by France in the Ragan Desert in the far southern province of Adrar in 1960, five times as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb in Japan, and the operation was dubbed Blue Yarboa.
Algeria considers these experiences to be complete in all the elements of the war crime and crimes against humanity committed by French colonialism against Algerians.
A few weeks ago, the Algerian parliament approved a bill criminalizing the French colonization of Algeria (1830-1962), and included nuclear explosions among 30 types of crimes committed against the Algerian people for more than 130 years.
