Fangataufa Airport

Military mission completion. The airport's sole purpose was to provide logistical support for the French nuclear testing program conducted by the *Centre d'Expérimentation du Pacifique* (CEP). With the permanent cessation of nuclear tests, the strategic and operational need for the airfield was eliminated, leading to its closure and abandonment.

The airport is abandoned and the site is part of a permanently restricted military zone. The entire atoll of Fangataufa is strictly off-limits to the public due to residual radiological contamination from the nuclear tests. The runway and tarmac are still visible in satellite imagery but are in a state of disrepair, unmaintained, and slowly being reclaimed by vegetation. The French government and military conduct periodic environmental and radiological monitoring of the atoll, but the airfield is not used for any regular air traffic. Access is possible only by special authorization for scientific or military surveillance missions.

Fangataufa Airport was a critical military airbase constructed in the 1960s to support France's atmospheric and underground nuclear weapons testing program. It was a vital logistical link, enabling the transport of thousands of military personnel, scientists, technicians, and heavy equipment to the extremely remote atoll. The airport handled military transport aircraft such as the Transall C-160 and Nord Noratlas. Along with the larger facility on the nearby Mururoa Atoll, this airport was instrumental in France's ability to conduct 193 nuclear tests between 1966 and 1996, making it a site of major historical significance for the Cold War and French military history.

There are no plans or prospects for reopening Fangataufa Airport. A reopening is considered virtually impossible due to the persistent radiological hazards, the atoll's legal status as a restricted and contaminated military domain, and the complete lack of any economic or civilian justification. The cost of decontamination and rebuilding the infrastructure to modern standards would be prohibitive and without purpose.