France carried out 17 tests in the Sahara and 193 in French Polynesia starting in 1960. But the test programme it launched also exposed participants and local populations to potentially lethal radiation. Both groups claim that they have been plagued by health problems, from aggressive cancers to minor cardio-vascular complaints. However, they never got any compensation for all the suffering since then. Nearly 40 years after the first of its 210 nuclear tests, France is preparing to compensate people affected by the fallout. The move leaves the UK isolated in its policy of rejecting liability for illnesses suffered by test participants.