Reparations as a Spatial Project: A Manual to Repair Nuclear Injustice

Xiao Fang

,

2021-22

The project starts by investigating nuclear colonial history in French Polyne-sia. The two atolls - Moruroa and Fangataufa, became sites of 193 nuclear tests conducted by the French government since 1966. The entire territory was exposed to high-level radioactive fallout. Although the French government created a financial compensation scheme in 2010, the debatable conditions and problematic methodologies result in a seriously underestimated number of victims and an inadequate amount of payment.The proposal argues that the reparations should be a collective pursuit and not only focused on individual financial compensation. The proposed reparation programme is considered a spatial and environmental project that looks for-ward to repairing the historical injustice by designing a multiscalar masterplan that cleans up the radioactive waste and remediates the relationship between humans and nature. It takes into account the time scales of radioactivity, and provides inhabitants, those who must live alongside the nuclear waste, with a legacy to carry out the reparations for themselves by becoming guardians on the atolls. In addition, a digital archive system will be established to give back the rights to access information, and serves as an example of a nuclear repa-ration scheme for future reference.

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