In 1960 France detonated a nuclear device at Taourirt Tan Afella in Algeria in the Sahara Desert - and carried out a further 16 tests in Algeria. In 1966 it established a test site at Moruroa in French Polynesia in the South Pacific where it conducted 193 tests until 1996. The last six, after France lifted a three year moratorium, sparked global protests. In 1985 the French programme of tests had also been overshadowed by the sinking of the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior. France is one of five nuclear weapon states under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT).
