French Defense Minister Herve Morin gives a press conference on

French Defense Minister Herve Morin gives a press conference on March 24, 2009 in Paris that France will compensate 150,000 victims of nuclear testing carried out in the 1960s in French Polynesia and Algeria, after decades of denying its responsibility. Morin said that an initial sum of 10 million euros (14 million US dollars) has been set aside for military and civilian staff as well as local populations who fell ill from radiation exposure. A bill is to be presented in parliament later on March 24, setting up a nine-member commission of physicians, led by a magistrate, who will examine individual claims for compensation. The government had long argued that it had done everything possible to minimize risks to personnel during the 210 nuclear tests carried out in the Algerian Sahara desert and in French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean.