French Uranium Leak Was Low Level-Safety Authority
FRANCE: July 11, 2008
PARIS - France's nuclear safety authority (ASN) said on Thursday it had
provisionally classified a leak of liquid containing uranium on a site in
southeastern France earlier this week at level one of the INES nuclear
scale. The International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), used to measure the
potential danger of incidents at nuclear installation, has seven levels, the
lowest of which is zero.
"The ASN has provisionally classified this event at the level one on the
INES scale," the ASN said in a statement.
Areva said late on Tuesday that 30 cubic metres of liquid containing
uranium, which was not enriched, was accidentally poured on the ground and
into a river at the Tricastin nuclear site.
The incident occurred on Monday at 2300 local (2100 GMT) and was only
reported to the ASN eight hours later, drawing sharp criticism from green
groups. The affected residential areas were only informed at 1300 (1100 GMT)
on Tuesday.
The ASN said that the latest uranium measurements taken by Areva subsidiary
Socatri in rivers close to the site showed that the levels were within the
guidelines of the World Health Organization for water destined for human
consumption.
The ASN inspected the site on Thursday to determine the precise causes of
the incident.
The nuclear watchdog added it had requested that the institute for
radioprotection and nuclear safety (IRSN) to take new independent tests.
The prefecture of Vaucluse is maintaining a ban on fishing, bathing and
irrigation as well as restrictions on water consumption in the affected
area.
Judicial measures are not being ruled out, with the Commission for Research
and Independent Information (Criirad) saying it intends to register a
complaint with the Environment Minister which has indicated the possibility
of recourse to the courts.
Newspaper La Provence published on Thursday extracts of a May 2007 report
which said that the Socatri site had already seen repeated leaks due to old
pipes that carry waste liquid. (Reporting by Joseph Tandy)
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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