Champagne
should be fizzy, not fissionable.
30 May 2006 - Champagne region,
France — Ahhh, a fine Champagne. A delicate nose.
Full body. Great colour. And that indescribable
sensation when you raise your glass of having
your tongue tickled by .... TRITIUM???
Raise a toast to the French
nuclear industry, whose low-level radioactive
waste is leaking into groundwater less than 10
kilometres (6 miles) from the famous Champagne
vineyards.
Problems at a radioactive waste
dumpsite in Soulaine were reported by its operator,
ANDRA, to the French nuclear safety authority
on May 24th, 2006. According to their report "the
wall of a storage cell fissured" while concrete
was being added to a recent layer of waste.
Back in the 1980's, ANDRA stated
categorically that their dumpsite would not release
any radioactivity into the environment. But that
was when they were seeking planning permission.
Today, the French nuclear authority is saying
"This event revealed a flaw in the conception
of the storage cells of the site."
The waste dump, Centre Stockage
l’Aube (CSA) in Soulaine, contains nuclear waste
both from France and abroad. More waste is trucked
into the site every week. Once full, the dumpsite
will be one of the world’s largest with over 1
million cubic meters of waste, including plutonium.
Greenpeace research released
last week showed levels of radioactivity leaking
from another dumpsite run by ANDRA in Normandy
-- at up to 90 times above European safety limits.
That waste has seeped into underground water used
by farmers, with contamination spreading into
the countryside and threatening dairy production.
The Champagne site will receive
a total of 4 thousand terabequerels of tritium
-- more than three times the amount of tritium
waste as the dumpsite in Normandy.
A nuclear waste crisis out of
control
"We have been told for
decades that nuclear dumpsites will not leak and
that the best standards are being applied. In
reality the dumpsite in Normandy is a disaster,
and radioactivity is already leaking from the
dumpsite in Champagne," says Shaun Burnie,
nuclear campaigner at Greenpeace International.
"The authorities know they have a problem
in Champagne already, with mistakes in the design.
This is only the beginning of the problem, the
bigger picture is that France has a nuclear waste
crisis out of control that is threatening not
only the environment and public health but also
the economy of the Champagne region."
In addition to the low and intermediate
waste site in Soulaine, a new high-level waste
dumpsite is being planned in Bure -- also in the
Champagne region -- in which the most radioactive
material in France would be deposited. Plans to
build a high level waste facility in the Rhone
Valley were scrapped a few years ago after strong
opposition by wine producers due to the threat
to their vines and wine production.
"The Champagne producers
are facing two nuclear time bombs – one already
leaking at Soulaine, and one planned at Bure.
The wine producers in the Rhone region stood up
to the nuclear state in France and won. The Champagne
region needs to act fast before it’s too late,"
said Fred Marillier of Greenpeace France.
"The French Government
must stop this madness. The new facility must
not accept any more waste, and an immediate investigation
launched into how to stop further contamination
of ground water."
1,200 tons each year and no
place to go
Despite having a nuclear waste
crisis the French electricity providers Electricite
de France (EdF) are seeking approval to build
a new reactor at Flamanville, which will increase
the amount of high-level waste.
Today EdF's nuclear reactors
produce 1,200 tonnes of highly radioactive waste
every year. The waste expected from the new reactor
would be the most hazardous waste ever produced
in a French nuclear power reactor.
France needs to end its love
affair with nuclear power, and raise a glass to
safe, clean, renewable energy.
