Since June, when President Jacques Chirac decided to resume nuclear-weapons tests in the South Pacific, Cousteau has become a vocal critic, calling the tests "an unavowed menace to future generations." A few days ago, he and other members of a presidential advisory group, the French Council for the Rights of Future Generations, abruptly resigned, en masse, in protest.

Cousteau's battle with the French government isn't his first. In 1960, Cousteau and Prince Ranier of Monaco opposed France's plan to dump radioactive wastes into the Mediterranean Sea, eventually forcing France to abandon the plan.

This season's battle, though, is tougher. Chirac shows no signs of calling off the tests and, so far, he has declined to meet Cousteau and others on the presidential advisory council. But, as Cousteau put it, "He can't avoid us forever."