France orders probe at all nuclear sites

[jpak]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fdb32b40-5437-11dd-aa78-000077b07658.html

The French government on Thursday ordered an investigation into the water table around all of France’s 58 nuclear reactors in an effort to dispel fears raised by a leak from a treatment plant run by Areva in southern France.

Jean-Louis Borloo, ecology minister, has asked an independent committee to carry out the probe to stem mounting public concern over nuclear waste management after a low-grade leak at the Socatri treatment plant at Tricastin focused public attention on a still unexplained, older contamination of the water table.

“I do not want people to feel we are hiding anything, I want the committee to look at the radioactivity and environmental situation at all nuclear sites and I particularly want the state of the ground water tables around all French nuclear stations to be looked at,” Mr Borloo said in an interview in Le Parisien newspaper. “We have to carry out a review of the sites and I expect an analysis from the committee.”

Areva, the French nuclear group, and safety authorities insist the incident presents no threat. Government officials on Thursday played down the significance of the Socatri leak. “This is not a nuclear incident,” said the Ecology Ministry.

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[phantom power]

1. I was just overcome with a vision of the future.

a) Their water table review will confirm that there was no health risk.

b) This incident will still be cited as evidence that nuclear power is too risky.

[NNadir]

4. Never let it be said that a fundie does anything but live by innuendo.

In fact, dumb fundie anti-nukes who know zero science used their tremendous illiteracy to misinterpret the fact that nuclear energy was the only form of energy that examined its external costs before it was built.

I covered this topic on another website in a diary called:

A Calculation: How Many Trillions of Dollars of Environmental Damage Will IGCC Coal Cost?

[Massacure]

8. Your link is broken.

[bananas]

9. You mis-spelled "mind".

[kristopher]

10. That one sort of crept up on me.

:thumbsup:

[madokie]

6. do you really believe (a)

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. I could see that...

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Incidents raise questions about French nuclear safety

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-07-18-French-nuclear-safety_N.htm

Incidents raise questions about French nuclear safety

...

On Friday, nuclear safety officials announced the discovery of a burst underground pipe at a plant in Romans-sur-Isere, southeastern France, run by Areva subsidiary Societe Franco-Belge de Fabrication de Combustibles. Inspectors found that the pipe had been broken for several years and didn't meet safety standards.

Jean-Pierre Gros, Areva's head of combustion, said between 120 and 750 grams of uranium had leaked.

Areva insisted the leak of lightly enriched uranium did not spill beyond the plant, and that it had no impact on the environment.

But the incident was nonetheless another blow for Areva after a leak at the Tricastin site, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the historic southeast city of Avignon. A liquid containing traces of unenriched uranium leaked from a factory run by Areva subsidiary Socatri, spilling from a reservoir that overflowed.

...

[NNadir]

5. At least among the stupid it does, but not quite like these numbers:

http://www.who.int/quantifying_ehimpacts/countryprofilesebd.xls

[madokie]

7. there you are again with that same ole link that my computer won't let me read

damn and I paid good money for this bugger too, oh well it prolly knows best as I don't think I cost near as much as this thing did when I was born. It is all in your worth is it not? talk to me big guy I want to learn and your lord knows you can learn me and learn me good, huh.