What is it with the French and their water?
First it was France’s Perrier and the discovery of Benzene (dry cleaning fluid) in their bottled water which led to a huge recall. Then it was Evian, and the bottled water racket exposed!
Now it’s France’s Areva and uranium in the local river.
France’s Areva says uranium leaked into river
PARIS (Reuters) – French nuclear firm Areva said on Tuesday 30 cubic meters of a liquid containing natural uranium was accidentally poured on the ground and into a river at a site in southeastern France. [Thank heavens they are the dismantling specialists!]
The uranium, which was not enriched, was poured on the ground during the cleaning of a tank at the Socatri group, an Areva subsidiary, on the site of the Tricastin nuclear plant.
“Around 30 cubic meters of a liquid containing uranium, with a concentration of 12 grams of uranium per liter [that’s about 360 kg of uranium] was poured on the ground,” France’s nuclear safety authority said in a statement, adding that it will carry out an investigation on July 10 to determine the causes of the accident.
Socatri specializes in the maintenance and dismantling of nuclear material as well as managing nuclear waste.
Part of the liquid soaked into the ground at the company’s premises while the rest ran into the Gaffiere and Lauzon rivers, which flow into the Rhone.
A Socatri spokesman said the firm will monitor the impact of the accident on the environment. (Source)
Update [July 10, 2008]: French Newspaper La Provence published today extracts of a May 2007 report which said the Socatri plant had experienced repeated leaks due to old pipes that carry waste liquid. (Source)
Avignon, situated on the bank of the Rhône river, probably won’t need any artificial lighting for some time.
The authorities, believed to be underplaying the danger posed by the uranium leak, banned residents in the city of Avignon (about 40km from Tricastin nuclear site at Bollene) and other nearby towns from fishing, swimming in the rivers, using water from wells, or using water from the rivers on their crops.
Gaffiere river’s radiation levels rose about 1,000 times higher than the background levels after the spill. Said a spokeswoman for the nuclear safety agency.
Areva, Areva
The AREVA Tower located in Europe’s largest CBD, La Défense, Paris.
AREVA is a French public multinational industrial conglomerate that deals mostly in nuclear power. It was created in 2001, by the merger of Framatome and Cogema (now AREVA NC).
The French State owns more than 90%. AREVA official Ralf Güldner is the vice-chairman of the World Nuclear Association.
AREVA is the world’s biggest company in nuclear energy. It is the only company with a presence in each industrial activity linked to nuclear energy: mining, chemistry, enrichment, combustibles, services, engineering, nuclear propulsion and reactors, treatment, recycling, stabilization, and dismantling. [And leaking uranium to the local rivers.]
EPR
AREVA has been constructing Finland’s fifth reactor in Olkiluoto since 2005. The reactor, which is one of the first of the new, third generation reactors (EPR – European Pressurized Reactor), was supposed to begin producing electricity in 2009, but the project has been delayed because of technical difficulties and quality problems. In August, 2007 the production start was postponed to 2010-2011. During the political debate in 1992, the official price estimate was 2500M euros. In 2004, a contracted fixed price was established as 3200M euros. In its 2006 Annual Report,AREVA recorded a writedown of 507M euros associated with the delay. A Jan 2008 financial press estimate pegged the overrun so far at 1.5B euros [AFX News Limited: AREVA proposes to sell 2 EPR reactors to South Africa’s Eskom UPDATE 01.31.08].
The second EPR in France is currently under construction at the Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant. Other EPRs were to be sold to the United Kingdom and to the United States.
United States
In USA, AREVA is present in 40 locations across 20 states and employs 5,000 people. In 2005 AREVA and Constellation Energy of Baltimore announced a new joint venture called UniStar Nuclear that will market the commercial EPR in the US. (Source: Wikipedia.)
Related Links:
- European Pressurized Water Reactor!
- How Do You Say ‘Duck-n-Cover’ in Finnish?
- Radioactive Leak at TEPCO Unit Near Tokyo
Sur le pont d’Avignon
“Sur le pont d’Avignon” is a 15th century French song about the Pont d’Avignon aka Pont St-Bénezet, a famous medieval bridge in the town of Avignon.
Here’s a new variation [hope our French colleagues won’t mind 😉 ]
On the bridge of Avignon, lit by the glow of uranium
We all dance there, we all dance there
Under the bridge of Avignon
We all dance there in a ring, but can no longer swim!
The handsome gentlemen wearing funny suits and masks on their faces go this way
Then again go that way, with Geiger-Müller tubes in their hands!
The beautiful ladies with a bright halo round their heads go this way
Then again go that way
The musicians go this way
Then again go that way, playing to the rhythm of ionizing radiation tune!
Fire Earth 