France would be unable to protect its population in the event of a nuclear attack
By launching its Orechnik hypersonic missile towards Ukraine, the Kremlin has demonstrated its ability to attack any European country. A prospect that makes France shudder.
France has no fallout shelters to protect its population in the event of a nuclear strike. Should the Russian president decide to target France, there would be no place safe enough to take shelter.
Back in February, the French Senate expressed concern about this cruel lack of resources. Republican Olivier Paccaud had questioned the Minister of the Armed Forces “about the low capacity of underground shelters designed to protect the population in the event of a nuclear armed conflict”.
Not the same policy as elsewhere
The senator had stated that “in 2017, France had barely a thousand shelters on its soil, most of them built in the 1980s. Six hundred of these structures were military in nature and around 400 others were private civilian shelters”, as ti compared this figure to Germany, Norway, Finland or Switzerland, equipped with shelters for 40 to 104% of the population, reports 20 Minutes. “In France, we don't have, we've never had and we'll never have a policy to protect the population in the event of an attack of this type, as may be the case elsewhere,” admits Jean-Marie Collin, an expert working on international disarmament and nuclear deterrence in particular.
No plan B
At the time, former French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne agreed: “Nuclear deterrence permanently protects France from any threat of aggression from a state against its vital interests.” Jean-Marie Collin added that “for the last sixty years, we've been banking everything on deterrence, hoping it won't happen. Because we don't have a plan B”.
Only a small number of privileged people could find refuge in shelters located under specific sites (the Maison de la Radio, the Elysée Palace or the Gare de l'Est). For the very rich, private bunkers might be envisaged.
As Jean-Marie Collin asserts, “whether deterrence works or not”, the best way to avoid a nuclear war “is nuclear disarmament”.
(MH with Manon Pierre - Source : 20 Minutes - Illustration : Unsplash)