Date: Wed, 26 Jun 1996 12:45:22 
 
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25 june 1996 (Reuter) - An international team of scientists
will begin scanning France's South Pacific nuclear test sites
for traces of radioactive contamination in early July, the
U.N. atomic agency said Tuesday. The experts plan to spend one
month collecting earth and water samples at the French
Polynesian atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa, where France
conducted  six underground nuclear tests from September 1995
to January 1996. The IAEA has budgeted some $1.5 million for
the research, which is due to be completed in early 1998.