Placed at government speak senator Olivier Paccaud in February 2023, the question has resurfaced in the news in recent days. How many do we have fallout shelters (bunkers) in France ? If France has not launched a precise inventory of these installations, our German neighbors have done so.
For the senator, “there is nothing incongruous”
The war in Ukraine, which has lasted for almost three years, has sparked international fears of a nuclear crisis. To protect themselves, certain countries do not hesitate to inventory their anti-atomic shelters, restore and maintain them.
In France, the question was raised a year after the start of the war in Ukraine, in particular by Senator Olivier Paccaud (related LR). Taking advantage of questions to the government, the parliamentarian addressed Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. “The weak-willed intimidations, the threatening and persistent innuendoes coming from the Kremlin prove that a new war in Europe could one day break out in its most devastating form, namely that of an atomic war. There is therefore nothing incongruous about considering this risk and taking measures to protect against it,” said Olivier Paccaud.
“A level of protection against nuclear risk that is remarkably weak”
He continued: “However, in 2017, France had barely a thousand shelters on its soil, most of them built in the 1980s. 600 of these structures were of a military nature and around 400 others were private civilian shelters. Relative to the population, these figures give our country a remarkably low protection rate against nuclear risk since it is barely above 0%!”
Citing the examples of other European countries such as Germany, Finland or Switzerland where these protection rates against nuclear risk are respectively 40%, 70% and 104%. Note that in Switzerland, the construction of these shelters is a legal obligation.
The nuclear deterrent preferred by the government
“Our country is woefully under-equipped in this area even though these structures are of major civil protection interest and prove essential to protect the population, not only against hypothetical armed conflicts but also in the event of natural or industrial disasters. », Commented Senator Paccaud in February 2023, before asking if a census of these shelters had been carried out and if there were plans to increase their number.
To which the then Prime Minister responded in the negative, explaining that France’s strategy was based on nuclear deterrence, rather than the construction of anti-atomic shelters.
