The Second World War ended just days after the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
The bombs’ terrible power made many countries decide to develop their own nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union (Russia and its attached states), the US, Great Britain, France and others began holding tests, exploding weapons in remote parts of the world.
France exploded its bombs on small Pacific Ocean islands that it owned. Very soon, there were protests from people and groups who were alarmed by the dangers of the blasts and radioactivity. New Zealand protested at the United Nations. A Greenpeace ship tried to sail to Mururoa in 1973, but was seized by the French navy. In the same year, the New Zealand government sent two warships, Otago and Canterbury, to the same area, to show its opposition to nuclear tests in the Pacific.
In 1974, France announced that no more bombs would be exploded above ground. However, it continued with underground nuclear tests until 1996, and New Zealand maintained its opposition throughout that time. The Greenpeace movement also organised more anti-nuclear protests. In 1985 its ship, the Rainbow Warrior, was in Auckland, preparing to sail to the Pacific, when French frogmen (combat divers) secretly laid explosive charges and sank it. One crew member was drowned.
New Zealand is now officially nuclear-free. Since 1996, France has used super-computer programmes to ‘test’ its nuclear weapons.