[Vision2020] Second Spill for AREVA

[tim lohrmann]

>From: The Snake River Alliance <lwoodruff at snakeriveralliance.org>
> Subject: Second Spill for AREVA
> Date: Tuesday, July 22, 2008, 4:57 PM
> 
> Dear Alliance Members and Friends,

> As you know from our last e-alert, the French company AREVA caused a uranium
> spill on July 7th at their Tricastin nuclear plant.  
What you may not know,is that less than two weeks later, another spill and 
defective pipe was discovered at a different AREVA facility.  AREVA is the 
company planning to build a uranium enrichment facility in Eastern Idaho.

Please see the article below for more detailed information on the most recent 
spill. While the environmental impact of both spills is still under 
investigation, the Alliance sees two spills in two weeks from AREVA as a 
reason to raise serious questions about the safety of AREVA's practices in the 
United States in general and Idaho in particular.
> Please take the time to read this article and contact your legislators and
> local papers voicing your concerns about the prospect of a nuclear facility
> being built in Idaho by a company with an increasingly poor record in terms 
>of safeguards against radioactive leaks.  Please also consider becoming a 
>member of the Alliance, if you haven't done so already.  We are serious about
> preventing AREVA from building their facility in Idaho but we need your 
>support to do so. Visit our website:
> http://ent.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=223078797&u=2328846
> and join today.
> 
            New uranium leak discovered at French nuclear site
Fri Jul 18, 10:05 AM ET
              French nuclear safety authorities said Friday that a broken pipe 
at a nuclear fuel plant in southeast France had caused a radioactive leak but 
no damage to the environment.
> The latest uranium spill at the plant run by nuclear giant Areva in
> Romans-sur-Isere came amid much public concern over a leak at another 
facility last week that polluted the local water supply.
> Residents in the Vaucluse region of southern France have been told not to 
>drink water or eat fish from nearby rivers after the liquid uranium spill on July 7 at the Tricastin nuclear plant.
> According to the ASN nuclear safety authority, the pipe defect at the FBFC
> plant at Romans-sur-Isere in the Drome region may date back several years.
> "Results from initial tests show there has been no impact at all on the
> environment, because the quantity of uranium was very small, in the order of 
>a few hundred grammes," said ASN spokeswoman Evangelia Petit.
> 
The FBFC plant produces nuclear fuel for some of France's 58 reactors, the
world's largest network after the United States and which produces 80
percent of the nation's electricity.

> Areva late Thursday notified the nuclear authority of the leak and three
> inspectors were dispatched to the site in the early hours on Friday to 
>assess the damage. Petit said the spill did not reach the ground water and that there was no sign of contamination.
> Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said he wanted to review all security
> measures in the nuclear industry, carry out tests on the ground water near 
>all reactors and assess the state of waste storage sites.
> After Areva took several hours to notify nuclear authorities over the 
>Tricastin spill, Borloo said he wanted to ensure that information quickly reaches the public.
> The minister said that while there were "very, very tight controls"
> when it came to nuclear reactors, the safeguards appeared to be not as
> foolproof for treatment plants and other facilities.
> Areva president Anne Lauvergeon was later Friday due to inspect the 
>Tricastin plant, which is run by its subsidiary Socatri.
> After admitting to a safety lapse at Tricastin, Areva on Thursday replaced
> Socatri's director and announced an internal audit to determine what went
> wrong.
> Swimming and water sports have also been forbidden as is irrigation of crops
> with the contaminated water.
> The leak ranked as a level-one incident on the seven-point scale to guage 
>the seriousness of nuclear accidents.
> Last year, there were 86 level-one incidents in France, down from 114 the
> previous year, said Borloo.

> 
> Our postal address is 
> PO Box 1731
> Boise, Idaho 83701
> United States
> 
> 
>