After years of living in denial over the effects of its four decades of nuclear tests on humans, the French government has finally acknowledged that it did affect humans and has established a €10-million fund to compensate victims who suffered from the after effects.

Carrying out the first nuclear test, nicknamed ''Gerboise Bleue'' in 1960 in the Algerian Sahara desert, France has since conducted more than 200 tests between 1960 and 1996 in the Algerian Sahara, French Polynesia and the Pacific Ocean, "theoretically" exposing nearly 150,000 people to radiation.

Over the years, France has refused to recognise that the nuclear tests conducted by it was linked to the health complaints of both military personell and civilians involved in the tests.

French Defense Minister Herve Morin told the French newspaper Le Figaro, that "French governments believed for a long time that opening the door to compensation would pose a threat to the very significant efforts made by France to have credible nuclear deterrent, but it was time for France to be true to its conscience."

Those involved in carrying out the nuclear tests and people living in close proximity of the testing zones have over the years complained of various health problems ranging from leukemia to many forms of cancer and many of them had filed cases in the court claiming compensation.

About 2,000 Polynesians, including 600 children, suffered from the nuclear test carried out at the Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls.

Last month, 12 ex-army men filed claims for compensation for serious health problems in an appeals court in Paristo force the French government to acknowledge the link between nuclear tests and health problems.

The days of France conducting nuclear tests were numbered, when world media highlighted the sinking of the environmental group Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior in Auckland, New Zealand, by French secret agents in a bid to stop activists from halting nuclear tests.

France finally stopped all nuclear tests after the test conducted at Fangataufa atoll in 1996, where the nuclear bomb exploded at a dangerous lower depth.

At a news conference in Paris, Morin said "Thirteen years after the end of tests in the Pacific ... it's time for our country to be at peace with itself, thanks to a system of compensation and mending the damage that was suffered and the burden of proof will be reversed: victims will no longer have to prove that their illness is due to the nuclear tests, but it will be up the state to contest that."

The French government has earmarked a first batch of €10 million to the compensation fund from the defense ministry's budget and individual cases will be examined by an independent commission comprised of physicians and headed by a magistrate and compensation will be paid on their approval.

The US, Russian and the UK government had set up compensation funds about two decades back to compensate victims of nuclear tests, although for years these governments also had also resisted.