Some 150,000 civilian and military personnel took part in 210 nuclear tests carried out in the Sahara desert and the Pacific between 1960 and 1996, many of whom later developed serious health problems.

The government unveiled a bill on compensating the test victims in March, after decades of denying its responsibility for fear the admission would have weakened its nuclear programme during the Cold War.

"Thirteen years after the end of the tests in the Pacific, the bill I am presenting today is to allow our country to serenely close a chapter of its history," Defence Minister Herve Morin told the lower-house National Assembly.

"France showed its greatness in the political, strategic challenge that brought us into the very small circle of nuclear powers. It must show greatness in its determination to repair its mistakes," he said.

French veterans had been waging a long campaign for the state to recognise its responsibility toward ageing and sick staff who worked on its nuclear programme.

Under the bill, which is to be put to the vote on June 30, a nine-member committee of physicians, led by a magistrate, will examine individual claims for compensation.

Socialist opposition lawmakers have welcomed the bill, but warn it gives too much say to state appointees, and too little to victims' groups, in deciding who is eligible.

Michel Verger, head of the French nuclear test veterans' group, told AFP after the debate the bill was "a step forwards but the text needs to be greatly improved," demanding that victims' groups be represented on the committee.

Morin recently said he expected "a few hundred" people would be concerned.

By offering compensation, the government hopes to avoid long, drawn-out litigation. About a dozen veterans have won minor damages in lawsuits brought against the state.

One of the world's five declared nuclear powers, France carried out 17 nuclear tests in Algeria in the early 1960s including four atmospheric trials.

The first test code-named "Gerboise Bleue" (Blue Gerbil) took place on February 13, 1960 in Reggane, southern Algeria, some 15 years after the United States ushered in the age of nuclear weapons with its test in New Mexico.

Over four decades, 193 tests were carried out near the French Polynesian islands of Mururoa and at Fangataufa until 1996 when president Jacques Chirac declared an end to the programme.

The government is also lifting the veil of secrecy surrounding its nuclear programme as it considers the compensation claims.

The military archives of the nuclear programme have been opened and are being examined by two experts who are to submit a report in December on the environmental impact of the tests.

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