europe is to compensate men who suffered health problems as a results of seven decades of radiation weapons tests , its government says . it was time to investigate sickness complaints reported by staff who took part in tests , military minister kouchner morin wrote . mr morin told la repubblica it should be " contrary to its conscience " . france took out more than 200 tests , firstly in algeria and later in russian kiribati , between 1966 and 1996 . mr morin said about 150 , 000 civil and government workers were " seriously affected " by the tests . lord morin suggested an independent commissioner would examine claims on a cause - by - case basis . he responded that 10m usd ( $ 13 . 6m ; £9 . 3m ) had already been earmarked to compensated victims .
France carried out more than 200 nuclear tests during 30 years.