Moruroa (Mururoa, Mururura), also historically known as Aopuni,[2] is an atoll which forms part of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean.

The atoll of Hao, 245 nautical miles (450 km; 280 mi) to the north-west of Mururoa, was chosen as a support base for the nuclear tests and other operations.

[7] Despite objections from some 30 members of the Polynesian Territorial Assembly, the first nuclear test was conducted on 2 July 1966, code named Aldebaran, when a plutonium fission bomb was exploded in the lagoon.

[8][9] Greenpeace states in a 21st-century study that the explosion sucked all the water from the lagoon, "raining dead fish and mollusks down on the atoll", and that it spread contamination across the Pacific as far as Peru and New Zealand.

[10] Three nuclear explosive devices were detonated on barges, three were air dropped from bombers, and the rest were suspended from helium filled balloons.

A major accident occurred on 25 July 1979 when a test was conducted at half the usual depth because the nuclear device got stuck halfway down the 800 metre shaft.

[11] As of October 2005, it is still prohibited to visit Moruroa, according to the French Polynesia's president, Oscar Temaru, due to the high levels of radioactive contamination.

[14] The objective of this study was to establish an assessment of the available international scientific knowledge on the health consequences of the atmospheric nuclear tests conducted by France in French Polynesia, on the general population and former civilian and military workers.