This project examines the connections between colonialism, science, and the environment, starting with French nuclear tests in Polynesia and their measurements from the Chilean coast during the 1960s. Despite its early independence, Chile had to confront the toxic legacy of the French colonial empire in the midst of the Cold War. Engaging with the history of science and decolonial studies, the research traces the effects of radioactivity in Chilean and French archives to understand how knowledge and policies surrounding nuclear risk were constructed. It asks, in particular, how the Chilean state managed the risk stemming from the contamination produced by the French tests and what forms of scientific authority emerged in that process. In response to the French tests, Chile implemented a national radioactivity measurement program in 1966, which remained active until 1996. In an attempt to quell international criticism, France offered technical and technological cooperation, including expert advice and a proposal to install a nuclear reactor in Chile.
The study argues that these interactions reveal a form of scientific colonialism that reconfigured hierarchies of knowledge and power in the South Pacific, shifting the boundaries between metropolis and periphery. By situating Chile within the map of the effects and mediations of the French nuclear project, this research proposes a rethinking of the region's scientific and environmental history from its (post)colonial margins.