France Uranium Leak Leads to Water Bans
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
PARIS — Liquid containing traces of unenriched uranium leaked yesterday at a nuclear site in southern France, and some of the solution ran into two rivers, France’s nuclear safety agency said.
Authorities banned the consumption of well water in three nearby towns and the watering of crops from the two rivers. Swimming, water sports, and fishing were also banned.
A spokeswoman for the nuclear safety agency, Evangelia Petit, said about 7,925 gallons of solution containing uranium spilled at a factory at the Tricastin nuclear site, about 25 miles from the historic city of Avignon.
Another nuclear safety agency official, Charles-Antoine Louet, said the liquid contained about 794 pounds of unenriched natural uranium, which he said is toxic but only slightly radioactive.
“The risk is slight,” he said.
The factory handles materials and liquids contaminated by uranium, the fuel for nuclear power plants.
The liquid spilled from a reservoir that overflowed. It leaked both into the ground and into two rivers, the Gaffiere and the Lauzon, the nuclear safety agency said. It said the cause of the spill was not yet known. Local authorities said the leak happened during the washing of a tank.
