Reganne, Algeria - French Nuclear Tests

[Dave The Hat]

Has anybody ever explored near Reganne where these tests happened in the 60's? Is there much left in terms of equipment, small labs etc. Quite intrigued by it all! Not sure what current radiation levels are, just curious if anybody had a poke around (or even if youre allowed to, military close by)

BBC News - Veterans of French nuclear test in Algeria seek action

[Richard Washington]

The test sites were at Reggane and In Eker. At the latter site, tunnels were dug into the mountain just west of where the TSH now goes. There were 13 nuclear explosions at In Eker. The explosions were supposed to be contained within the mountain, but instead one of the tunnels blew open, exposing the desert and people to radiation which is still measureable.

The TSH highway goes between the mountain and the scientists in the photo below. The areas is fenced off, but is not guarded and the fence wasn't continuous last time I looked (2008). Next time I'd take a geiger counter before walking round there.

[Richard Washington]

[Ulrich]

Hello,

great thread with many pictures, graphics, descriptions etc. and background infos at desert-info.ch

www.desert-info.ch - Atombombenversuch In Eker - registration necessary


Plan de Reggane "

[Ulrich]

sorry, but the rest of my story was lost.




Sat-View In Ekker

Regards

Ulrich

[Dave The Hat]

Richard and Ulrich, thanks very much for posting the pictures and links, really informative. Much appreciated.

This is a fascinating story, and one which I knew very little about......and one which puts yet another black mark against European imperialism.

Thanks for sharing those links.

[Richard Washington]

The Taureg's of the region certainly suffered a great deal and the region was never cleaned up properly. But France didn't spare its own either. They would have known from August 1945 that radiation didn't do you much good. But that didn't stop them from exposing their own conscripts needlessly to radiation. It has been said that the troops were exposed to radiation to test their combat-readiness in the face of the bomb. Some were only 800m away from the bomb.

Beryl (see Google Earth image in Ulrich's post) was one tunnel that leaked. The tunnel was supposed to self seal. In that episode even some top-brass got a sizeable dose of radiation. You can see from the image below that the granite mountain also took a battering.

[Dave The Hat]

Ennahar Online - Vaujours "De Gaule wanted nuclear tests to be conducted in Reggane"

[Dave The Hat]

Ties in to this thread in a way, is the report of nuclear contamination near Arlit, Niger:

Polémique en terrain miné, Greenpeace et Areva au Niger - Temoust.org | Le portail du peuple touareg berbère Kel Tamasheq