The Nuclear Workers' Association has paid tribute to French Polynesia's foremost expert on the French nuclear weapons tests, describing him as a courageous man who put the truth first.
Bruno Barrillot has died in Tahiti, aged 77.
His legacy includes his work on the rehabilitation of the former test-related military sites on Moruroa and Hao as well as assisting in efforts to amend the French nuclear testing compensation law.
He was also the co-founder of French Polynesia's nuclear test veteran organisations.
The Nuclear Workers Association's president, Roland Oldham, told Amelia Langford that Mr Barrillot is known all over the world for his work and his death is a great loss.
He says the group wants to archive Bruno Barrillot's work so everyone has access to his research.
French Polynesia's foremost expert on the French nuclear weapons tests Bruno Barrillot has died in Tahiti, aged 77.
Photo: Tahiti-Infos
Transcript
ROLAND OLDHAM: He is someone who is very courageous - he's an expert but a lot of experts are mostly on the side of the government saying the French nuclear tests were clean. He's one of the rare people who had a problem with his own government, the French government, he also had a problem with the local government and he even had a problem with his religion because the Catholic Church in France did not take a position against the nuclear testing. So, [his death] is a very big problem for a lot of people, especially for us as an organisation, because we really rely on him and all his work as a researcher. He had a great knowledge of every experimentation in this country and because of him - he brought us a lot of information...and he is someone who really loved our people because he spent all this time here, and he died here, and he wants to be buried here - to us that is proof of the love that he had for our people, for the truth, and all the the work we are doing.
AMELIA LANGFORD: So, he was truly an independent expert, who wasn't swayed by politics?
RO: He was not. He had a lot of problems with a lot of people or even problems sometimes with other experts who are on the side of authority. Because - money - a lot of the time the permit to do this and that comes from the French government or a medical authority but he had been working very independently and that caused him a lot of problems.
AL: So how would you describe him? What was he like as a person?
RO: He was someone very humble, very quiet but he was very precise with his work. He was a workaholic. I mean all his time was spent analysing documents, working, and that was his passion - his life - and he was also someone very free in his way of thinking...He was not going to change his mind because the truth is the truth - and that's the kind of person that he was.
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