Green | July 09, 2008 | 10 comments

Uranium spills into two French rivers

source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1470125/uranium_spills_into_two_rivers_in_france/index....

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Mulcahey
French officials barred residents in three towns from using two rivers in southern France after waste containing uranium leaked into the waterways.

The accident happened at the Tricastin nuclear site at Bollene, about 25 miles from Avignon, the BBC reported. Residents along the Gaffiere and Lauzon rivers were banned from fishing, using water from wells, swimming in the rivers or using river water for crops.

The unenriched uranium was toxic but the French nuclear safety agency said the risk to humans was slight.

Uranium concentrations in the Gaffiere River initially were about 1,000 times higher than normal but were falling, spokeswoman Evangelia Petit said.

About 7,925 gallons of solution containing the uranium spilled from an overflowing reservoir at the site into the ground and the rivers, the British broadcaster said.

Abandon Nuclear Power, an anti-nuclear group, said it thought authorities were downplaying the danger posed by the waste.

It is impossible that such a spill, containing uranium, does not have important consequences for the environment and for health, the group said in a statement.

About 80 percent of France's electricity is from nuclear power.
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10 comments // Uranium spills into two French rivers

  • Purdey
    • 0
      Purdey  

    • Nearly 8,000 gallons of solution containing the Uranium, thats pretty major, but hey, the health risk is only slight according to the authorites. Lets see one of them drink a teaspoon of it.

      The only problem with nuclear is our implementation of it. Its driven by either the military or commercial power companies who do not share the same concerns as the rest of society about our environment.

    • 3 years ago
  • abbym0308
  • Imwired
    • 0
      Imwired  

    • We need more nuclear power and less oil, what country makes the best nuke facilities? The french so why are they not making them for everyone like the Americans do for Airplanes? For those who wish for air and sun, good for you..... blow harder my screen is getting dim.....

    • 3 years ago
  • J_Jammer
    • 0
      J_Jammer [removed]  

    • Please. This is one of the smartest things France has going for it. There are problems, sure, but it works for them and this can be fixed.

      I don't find fault in how they want to handle this.

      How quickly they clean it up is what should be important here, not that it happened.

    • 3 years ago
  • yonie
    • 0
      yonie  

    • They took two days before telling anyone something had gone wrong.

      I hope this will not turn out to be a bigger mess than it seems to be now.

    • 3 years ago
  • Psychedelic
    • 0
      Psychedelic  

    • It was a minor spill only 7,925 gallons of solution containing the uranium. That' s like a glass of water. Oh wait that 29.9993884 meters cube or 10,000 3 liter bottles of cola. That's a lot of fluid for a minor spill.

    • 3 years ago
  • jjmaster
    • 0
      jjmaster  

    • That's the problem with nuclear plants... "They" always downplay the HAZARDOUS waste spills, leaks, accidents, etc... It is too risky... We need safe sustainable energy-- solar and wind!

    • 3 years ago
  • Number1BadBoy
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