(January 22, 1993) Anna Elsink of Ass.P.P.P. sends an update on their activities and a recent visit to France's largest uranium mill, a SIMO facility situated on the outskirts of the town of Bessines:
(385.3768) WISE-Amsterdam
13 December 1992
Our rather small but determined group was in Bessines again.
The Association pour la Protection du Pays de Saint-Pardoux (Association for the Protection of the Earth) has decide to make a film on local problems caused by uranium mining and storage. Wanting to be correct, we wrote to Cogéma asking if we could take some pictures on their grounds, but unfortunately they did not have much faith in our objectivity, so now we are obliged to pass under barbed wires on Sundays. Still we manage!
However, our wish to film the processing of yellowcake seems to remain unfulfilled. Approximately 10 persons went to the mill in Bessines and asked again for permission to enter the SIMO facilities. The director himself and his staff came out rather aggressively and tried to get hold of our precious camera. This did not result in a fight, but we got some lovely rushes. You wonder what they are hiding though, for they always assure us there is absolutely no danger and total transparency.
Anyway, the mill will not run for very much longer now [it is expected to close in 1996] and future plans for the site are rather alarming. Cogéma has filed its official demand for storage of radioactive waste. Actually Cogéma does not speak of waste anymore, but calls it "matière première", or raw material. Indeed what's in a name, but legally it makes all the difference. We may expect to receive yellowcake n U308 refused elsewhere n thorium nitrate, and some 35 tons of mercurial products to be recycled.(1)
Luckily in Limoges people are starting to be uneasy at last. Several groups joined up and offered us their assistance. Recently, the C.L.A.D. (Coordination Limousine Anti-Déchets) was created, but maybe we should change the name already. [Anti-Déchets means "against waste"!]
We do hope to be able to stop the plan for storing nuclear "matière première" on the site of the SIMO. This was not at all meant to be a deposit. The Gartempe river passes by just there and the population is rather dense.
Furthermore, the two principles of proximity and precaution adopted in Rio de Janeiro (June 1992) are not respected.
Without a solution for radioactive waste, nuclear will die from constipation.
Sincerely,
Anna Elsink
(1) Info-Uranium, no. 59
Contact: Ass. P.P.P., La Vauzelle, F-87140 Compreignac, France.
(Note: For more on Bessines see WISE NC 378.3709 and 376.3694.)