French authorities ban water use following nuclear leak

Published 10 July 2008

Safety agencies in France are playing down the risk to public health from Tuesday’s uranium leak at the Tricastin nuclear plant, but water-usage bans have worried skeptical residents and environmental organizations

Following Tuesday’s accidental leak of more than 30,000 liters (7,925 gallons) of a solution containing uranium in southern France, nuclear safety agencies are minimizing the possible danger, but emergency bans put on water use in the area by local authorities have worried residents and environmental organizations at a time when much of Europe is re-embracing nuclear power as way to slow global warming. Spiegel’s Josh Ward writes that the leak occurred Tuesday morning, when a tank containing a solution with traces of non-enriched uranium was being cleaned at a processing facility operated by the Socatri group, a subsidiary of nuclear giant Areva, twenty-five miles) from Avignon. The contaminated liquid then overflowed from a reservoir and seeped into the ground and the Gaffiere and the Lauzon, two nearby rivers that flow into the Rhone. Charles-Antoine Louet, an official from France’s nuclear safety agency (ASN), has said that the “risk is slight,” according to AP. Although Louet’s organization estimates that uranium concentrations in one of the contaminated rivers are about 1,000 times their normal levels, he stressed that the solution was toxic but only slightly radioactive. Despite ASN’s assurances, local authorities have now banned the use of well water from three nearby towns as well as using water from the contaminated rivers to irrigate crops. Residents have also been banned from swimming, doing water sports and fishing in the contaminated waters. Environmental groups echo the worries of local authorities. Frederic Marillier, a spokesman for Greenpeace France, told Spiegel that his organization believes that the French authorities might be under-rating the significance of this spill, adding that: “Unfortunately, spills of this type are not so unusual.” In order to be in a better position to estimate the consequences of the leak, his organization plans to send representatives to accompany the ASN team when it begins its inspection of the contamination site Thursday.

The anti-nuclear umbrella group Sortir du nucleaire has seconded Greenpeace’s evaluation, adding in a statement that uranium “particles are excessively dangerous because they penetrate the organism and remain there, leading to a strong possibility of cancer.” Andre Lariviere, a spokesman for the organization, said that “It is common for France’s government, which has sold its soul to (nuclear) energy, to minimize and pretend there aren’t any problems.” His group is organizing an international anti-nuclear rally in Paris to be held this coming Saturday. The Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity, a