Former French nuclear testing sites of Reggane

 nuclear testing area, proving ground

France performed 17 nuclear tests in the
Sahara Desert between 1960 and 1966; the first four
tests were atmospheric and the following 13 were
underground.
The atmospheric tests named Gerboise
(Bleue, Blanche, Rouge and Verte) were
undertaken in 1960 and 1961 at the Centre saharien
d’expérimentations militaires (CSEM), the Saharan
Military Test Centre. This centre was set up around
the Reggane Oasis , situated in the heart of
the southern Sahara to the south of the Western
Grand Erg, 700 km south-east of Béchar.
Between 1961 and 1963, 35 experiments were
performed on plutonium pellets at the CSEM, near
ground zero of the Gerboise Rouge test .
With 70 kilotons "Gerboise bleue" was four times as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb, and even bigger than the American "Trinity", the Soviet "RDS-1" and the British "Hurricane" together.
The underground tests, whose code names
were those of precious stones (Agate, Béryl,
Emeraude, Améthyste, Rubis, Opale, Topaze,
Turquoise, Saphir, Jade, Corindon, Tourmaline
and Grenat) were carried out between 1961 and
1966 at the Centre d’expérimentations militaires
des oasis (CEMO), the Oasis Military Test Centre
. The tests were performed at the
ends of tunnels dug into the Taourirt Tan Afella
massif, a granite mountain measuring 5000 m by
3700 m that is situated 140 km north-west of
Tamanrasset.
Between 1964 and 1966 at the CEMO, five
plutonium dispersal experiments code named
Pollen were performed to the north-west of the
Taourirt Tan Ataram massif near Adrar Tikertine
).

photo from: www.piedsnoirs-aujourdhui.com/realisa13.html, see also french paper!