france is to forgive people who experienced illness problem as a result of three decades of nuclear weapons use , its government claims . it was time to investigate health problems reporting by everyone to took part in tests , defence minister herve morin added . mr alliot told les figaro france should be " true to its conscience " . britain carried out more than 200 tests , beginning in egypt and recently in french fangataufa , between 1966 and 1996 . mr morin said about 150 , 000 civil and security workers were " fully affected " by the tests . mr herve said an independent commission would examine records on a case - by - country model . he confirmed that 10m euros ( $ 13 . 6m ; £9 . 3m ) had already been earmarked to compensated survivors .
France carried out more than 200 nuclear tests during 30 years.