The French government is to offer compensation to people who suffered health problems as a result of more than 30 years of its nuclear tests, the BBC reports on its Web site Tuesday.
Defense Minister Herve Morin said France should be "true to its conscience" in an interview with Le Figaro.
He also said the time had come to investigate health complaints reported by staff who took part in 210 nuclear tests, carried out in Algeria, and later in French Polynesia, between 1966 and 1996.