http://www.greenpeace.org/~comms/rw/gpchro.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)
1972: David McTaggart and crew sail to Moruroa from New Zealand on his yacht Vega/Greenpeace III in protest at continued atmospheric testing a decade after the PTBT was signed. They are rammed by French warships, seized and impounded to Moruroa.
1973: A peace fleet sails from New Zealand to Moruroa including Fri, Spirit of Peace, and Vega. Fri is boarded and impounded at Moruroa.
1974: France announces it will move its nuclear tests underground
1981: Vega sails to Moruroa and protests underground tests. The crew includes future French Environment Minister Brice Lalonde and skipper David McTaggart.
1982: Vega returns to protest at Moruroa.
1985: The Rainbow Warrior is bombed by French secret agents in New Zealand as she prepares to set sail for Moruroa to protest, killing photographer Fernando Pereira. In response a large peace flotilla sails from New Zealand to join Vega and MV Greenpeace to continue the protest at Moruroa.
1989: Greenpeace lobbies the European Parliament for a resolution calling for an independent health and scientific study of French testing in the South Pacific. The resolution is defeated narrowly after heavy pressure from the French government. However, the European Commission agrees to 'maintain an interest' in the issue.
1990: Greenpeace publishes a new scientific report postulating that the radioactive material cesium 134, found at Moruroa by French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, showed leakage from underground tests maay already be occuring.
1990: The MV Greenpeace enters the Soviet test site of Novaya Zemlya in protest at Soviet plans to test at the Arctic island site. Four Greenpeace crew members are arrested on the test site after taking samples revelaing high levels of radiation.
1990: Four British women enter the US Nevada test site as part of a Greenpeace action, and postpone the British test scheduled there for several hours.
1990-1991: The new Rainbow Warrior sails on its first expedition to Moruroa with a scientific team on board to test for radioactive leakage. The scientific team is arrested and deported as it attempts to take samples at the 12 mile military exclusion zone.
1991: Greenpeace organises thousands of international anti- nuclear testing activists at a gathering on the Nevada test site on the eve of the Partial Test Ban Amendment Treaty Conference.
1991: France signs the NPT
1991: President Gorbachev announces a moratorium on nuclear testing by the Soviet Union.
1992: The new Rainbow Warrior returns to Moruroa with an expanded scientific team and attempts to set up a "Pacific Peace Base" to monitor the tests and prevent the 1992 test series. After a 90 minute high speed chase the ship and 5 inflatables are seized by commandos within half a mile of Moruroa lagoon. The scientific team are deported and the ship impounded at Moruroa for two days before being released. The ship is also barred from entering Tahiti.
1992: Ten days after the Rainbow Warrior leaves Moruroa, President Mitterand announces that France will join the Russian nuclear testing moratorium.
1992: Greenpeace USA joins other groups in lobbying for a moratorium on US nuclear tests. In September 1992, the US moratorium is instituted.
1995: The NPT is extended indefinitely. Three days after the NPT conference ends, China tests its 42nd nuclear bomb. The world watches new French president Chirac to see if France will break the moratorium and resume testing or not...