On this day in ...... 1996 (15 years ago today), in a statement televised live, French President Jacques Chirac announced that his country no longer would test nuclear weapons. He made the announcement several months after the resumption of French tests, and "a day after France exploded its sixth and biggest nuclear device in the South Pacific." (credit for October 1995 photo of wave from French nuclear test at Mururoa atoll) On September 24, 1996, France would sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; a couple years later it ratified that treaty, which cannot enter into force until all nuclear powers join it. (prior post)
