Many proponents of th nuclear energy have used France as an example of what can be accomplished. The country gets a hign precentage of the power from nukes and is a shining example of what can be accomplished when we set out minds on safe clean energy.
A major uranium leak at the Tricastin nuclear facility has focused attention on a series of recent incidents in France’s nuclear industry, raising serious doubts about its safety precautions for its workers and the environment. The conflicting reports issued by state officials and representatives of France’s public nuclear energy conglomerate, Areva, heighten suspicions of a cover-up.
A decree passed on July 23, 2003 and a law passed on June 13, 2006, restricting publicly available information on nuclear facilities in the name of the fight against terrorism, limit what can be revealed about the incidents. The measures classify information relative to stocking, protection, accountancy and transport of nuclear material as top secret. They also apply to the preparation of nuclear safety exercises.
The enquiry on the July 7 incident also detected water table pollution, apparently linked to the storage of military nuclear waste at Pierrelatte. Due to the feelings provoked by the first incident, it was decided to test the water tables around all 58 French power plants. Citing the fact that that the initial Tricastin leak was at a fuel processing plant and not a power plant, Frederic Marillier, spokesman for nuclear questions at Greenpeace France, said in a July 17 press release: “this analysis must not stop at the nuclear plants but must be widened to all nuclear sites: to processing sites (such as Cadarache, Marcoule, or the Hague), to disused uranium mines (such as Bessines), to military sites (such as Valduc), and to waste-stocking centres, notably in the Manche region and at Soulaines.”
In the following weeks, there were other incidents, receiving less coverage: on July 11, at the Nogent-sur-Seine nuclear power plant; on July 12 at a plant at Gravelines; on July 18 at Saint-Albans-Saint-Maurice, and in the reactor at Tricastin on July 23. On July 17, another leak was detected at the FBFC factory at Romans-sur-Isère (also in the Drôme), caused by a pipe break dating back several years. In total, according to CRIIRAD figures quoted by the daily Le Monde, 126 workers were contaminated.
Recently the safe Naval nuclear energy has been found to be not so safe and now the shining light of the nuke eneregy lobby is starting to dim a bit.