Large French Nuclear Test Noted in Pacific
Associated Press
WELLINGTON, New Zealand —
France detonated its biggest nuclear explosion in two years Saturday, probably at its Mururoa Atoll nuclear test site, according to New Zealand scientists who monitor the Pacific region with seismological equipment.
Warwick Smith, superintendent of the seismological observatory of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, said his equipment recorded a 50-kiloton explosion. One kiloton has the explosive force of 1,000 tons of TNT.
The last French nuclear tests recorded by scientists were in June.
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