Green Blog has news, commentaries and posts on all things green.
Welcome! Login Signup

Energy

Greenpeace to sue French Nuclear Industry

Simon Leufstedt
Wednesday, 6 August, 2008
By Simon Leufstedt
0

Nuclear PlantJuly last month could have been better for the French nuclear industry. Several accidents occurred at the French nuclear site Tricastin-Pierrelatte. Now Greenpeace in France has launched two court cases in an “effort to find out what’s really been going on” at the nuclear plant.

“We’re suing French power company Areva and its subsidiary company Socatri for causing water pollution, and for the abandonment and illegal deposit of waste. Our aim is to bring into the public eye the circumstances that led to these problems and expose the terrible safety record of the nuclear industry.”

Here is what the public in France knows so far about the nuclear incidents:

  • On July 7, 11PM, over 74 kilos of uranium is leaked into the environment from Tricastin. Eight hours later the authorities are informed.
  • July 8, 1PM, Restrictions on fishing, bathing and drinking local water are introduced 14 hours after the accident.
  • July 17, investigation of the leak reveals that there is more radioactivity present than the leak could have caused. Further investigation suggests that the military, who stored radioactive material at the site underground without proper containment in the 60’s and 70’s could be to blame.
  • July 23, a leaking pipe results in 100 workers being exposed to radioactive particles from a leaking pipe.
  • July 29, a false alarm results in 120 workers being evacuated, tests show that 45 employees have traces of radiation on them from the previous weeks’ leak.

When the first incident came to light the French police launched an investigation. Tests of the ground water at all nuclear power facilities have also been ordered by the French Environment Minister.

Simon Leufstedt
Simon Leufstedt is the editor of Green Blog. Simon has previously studied Global Environmental Justice and is currently studying Human Ecology and Political Science at Lund University in Sweden. Simon is also blogging over at the Swedish 350 website and working with the Swedish TckTckTck organisation. You can follow Simon on Twitter and on Google+.
View all posts by Simon Leufstedt

Also on Green Blog

The Tangshanpeng wind farm in China.

China sees record investments in renewable tech, will introduce carbon trading scheme

The Chinese government recently declared that they are intending on placing a cap on their annual carbon emissions which will allow the individual provinces in China to regulate and plan their emissions more effectively. The hope is that this cap … Continue reading

Shell to produce diesel fuel from algae

Shell, the major oil company, has decided to adopt algae for its diesel production. The company has already begun the construction of a pilot plant in Hawaii. Growing algae as biofuel will not be taking valuable land areas that are … Continue reading

Comment Guideline

Comments with profanity, personal attacks or objectionable material will be edited or deleted. Feel free to refute someone's points or offer counter arguments, but please do not engage in name calling.

Join The Community

Discuss, share, and meet like-minded people in our friendly online community. Discuss topics that are important to you in our environment forums or create your own green blog.

Registration is free and you can sign up in seconds with your Google, Twitter or Facebook account. Click here to sign up!