MURUROA

atoll at the southeastern tip of the Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia, in the central South Pacific, 700 miles (1,125 km) southeast of Tahiti. Formerly uninhabited and used to grow coconuts, the island was ceded to France in 1964. Since 1966 it has been the site of a number of French nuclear weapons tests conducted through the Pacific Experimentation Centre; the first explosion took place July 3, 1966. After 1975 the tests were conducted underground. International concern over the fracturing of the rock of Mururoa caused France to announce that, in the future, its more powerful blasts would be carried out under the lagoon of the island of Fangataufa, south of Mururoa. Mururoa is served by a jet airstrip on Hao, about 170 miles (275 km) away, and by a rear base at Papeete. About half of the island's population, which numbered about 3,000 in 1985, is military.