Miscellaneous
Between 1966 and 1996, the French government conducted 193 nuclear weapon tests in the islands of the South Pacific. These explosions profoundly altered the health, wellbeing, and environment of the people living in this region, who spent decades amid radioactive polluted air, water, and soil. A new book, "Toxique," by Sebastian Philippe of the Program on Science and Global Security (SGS) at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs explores the consequences of this nuclear testing and the continued struggle of local communities and veterans to seek justice and compensation. Many of the documents, interviews, and simulations are on a dedicated new website (moruroa-files.org) in French and English. Philippe is an associate research scholar at SGS and a lecturer at SPIA. He has a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton. His research focuses on technical and policy analysis to assess, manage, and reduce the risks associated with nuclear weapons and emerging technologies to international peace and security. He also looks at the reconstruction of past nuclear weapon activities, an area we explore today.