(May 30, 1997) Greenpeace revealed on May 22 that the Prefet of La Manche and the French national plutonium company, Cogema, have suppressed a letter sent to them by safety authorities recommending that they close a beach across which runs a nuclear waste discharge pipe.
(473.4685) WISE-Amsterdam - An official at the Office of Protection against Ionizing Radiation (OPRI), confirmed to Greenpeace that it had sent an official letter in mid-April to the Prefet (the government representative) of the La Manche region, and a copy to Cogema, the government-controlled company. In the letter, OPRI confirmed that the radioactive discharge pipe of the reprocessing plant at La Hague (owned by Cogema), which had become uncovered by low-tides, was emitting very high levels of radiation, and that it recommended that access to the Moulinet beach be closed to protect the public.
The OPRI letter followed measurements by Greenpeace and Crii-rad on March 11 and again on April 8 showing that radiation from the pipe was as much as 3,900 times higher than background levels. In response to these finding, the DSIN, the French Directorate of Nuclear Installations Safety, announced that the situation needed to be classed as a Level 1 on the International Nuclear Incidents Scale (INES).
When contacted by Greenpeace to explain the decision not to make OPRI's letter public nor to act on its recommendation, M. Val, the director of the Prefet's office, stated that he could not remember the letter and could not be bothered to respond, given the demands on his office for the upcoming French parliamentary elections.
Greenpeace has called for the immediate publication of the OPRI letter, the application of its recommendation, and an investigation into why the letter was suppressed.
Source: Greenpeace press release, 22 May 1997
Contact: Damon Moglen, Greenpeace, 21 Rue Godot, Mauroy, 75009 Paris, France:
Tel: +33-1- 343-8595.