Radiological monitoring near La Hague

(448.4449) WISE-Amsterdam - The site of La Hague, situated in the northwest coast of France, concentrates key activities for the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle:

• The reprocessing plants of Cogema (UP2 and UP3) comprise the biggest reprocessing-facility in the world, with a theoretical capacity of 1600 tonnes of fuel a year.
• The storage of La Manche (CSM), directed by the National Agency for the Management of Radioactive Waste (ANDRA - Agence National pour la Gestion des Déchets Radioactifs), has the task of storing above ground so-called "low- and intermediate-activity" and "short-life" radioactive waste. It currently contains 525,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste.

Greenpeace asked CRII-Rad, Commission de Recherche et d'Information Indépendant on Radioactivité (Independent Commission for Research and Information on Radioactivity) to check on possible contamination in the area around the facilities at La Hague. The results of CRII-Rad's analyses show that the environment is contaminated and that monitoring by the French state institutions is failing. CRII-Rad found iodine-129 in 12 of 15 soil samples in a radius of seven km around La Hague, expecially in the north, where winds could carry the gas from the plant. Iodine 129 is a radioactive product which does not exist naturally and is extremely radiotoxic. It has carcinogenic effects on the thyroid glands and it has a very long half-life time of 15.7 million years. Thus, Iodine 129 contamination has to be monitored closely. At La Hague, official reports indicate no iodine in the air. But this is simply because gases have not been monitored. Official analyses have been done only on atmospheric dust, in spite of the fact that 99,99% of the radioactive emissions from Cogema are in gas form.

CRII-Rad also found tritium in at least four of the 10 samples. CRII-Rad could only take samples from the superficial layers: water from the fountains, rivers and brooks and in the not too deep wells (less than 6 meters). In the waters (in the North East) is measured 749 Bq/ of tritium in the River Grand Bel and 248 Bq/l in the river Sainte-Hélène. Tritium is radioactive hydrogen (half-life 12.3 years), which can cause cancers and genetic abnormalities. The official documents of ANDRA also show that the ground water is contaminated by tritium. In the third trimester of 1995, ANDRA admitted a maximum level of 68 000 Bq/l under CSM ground and 16 000 Bq/l in the public area. In january 1977 up to 630 000 Bq/l has been measured influenced by a concrete trench in which has been stored waste coming from Commisariat L'Energie Atomique (Atomic Energy Commission) of Saclay-a research centre in Paris. These values are very high and make the La Hague site one of the most contaminated places of France. ANDRA has admitted that the contamination comes from the wastes of tritium stored at CSM.

Cogema always uses two arguments to reassure the public concerning the health impact of radioactive waste:

• The quantities of waste are below the authorized limits.
• Actual environmental measurements do not show contamination, or they show contamination-levels which are not dangerous to the public health.

CRII-Rad disputes the validity of these arguments, stating that the limits set for the waste are too high. The reprocessing plants at La Hague are authorised to emit radioactive nuclides equivalent to those emitted by all nuclear plants in the world combined. There are serious lacunas in the official monitoring. The radionuclides which are emitted into the sea or into the air in large quantities are not monitored:

• Sea: In the public documents studied by CRII-Rad, there is no mention of data concerning tritium, strontium 90, iodine 129 and carbon 14.
• Surrounding air: The measurements conducted by Cogema and by La Hague are only done on dust, whereas the gases are the most worrying.
• Most unknown is the quantity of emission of carbon 14. According to estimates of CEPN (Study Centre for the Evaluation of Safety in the Nuclear Region: Centre d'Etude sur l'Evaluation de la Protection dans le Domaine Nuclear), carbon 14 is, of all the material stored in La Hague, the one which contributes the most to the exposure of the population in the long term.
• The quantity of tritium emitted into the air, has multiplied sevenfold between 1986 and 1993.
• The quantity of iodine 129 emitted has doubled between 1993 and 1994.

Not one of the four above mentioned radionuclides emissed in the sea and in the air has been monitored. Not surprisingly, the official statement to the population is that there is no radioactivity in the air they breath. The half lifetime of these four radionuclides ranges from relatively long (12.3 years for tritium) to very long (15.7 million years for iodine 129). The CSM storage facility, built in 1969, is located in a zone which is swampish and porous. Documents even indicate a risk of leakage of waste into the ground water. Moreover, the poor quality of concrete used for the confinement-work and of the concrete-slab on which the waste is lying is not reassuring.

CRII-Rad is advocating for tighter controls on emissions from the La Hague reprocessing plant. A precise inventory of the waste stored at CSM - listing the exact activities relating to the mass, the total activity, the margins of uncertainty, the exact locations and the state of the package and the structure of the confinement - is necessary. There should be a hydrogeological balance sheet through which it could be verified whether the radioactive waste could contaminate the ground water during periods of high waters. CRII-Rad is urging the publication and analysis of the conceptual faults and incidents which occurred during operation and an intensive independent analysis by experts on the radiological and chemical aspects of the contamination of the environment (especially groundwater).

Source and Contact: CRII- RAD. Bruno Chareyron "le Cime"; 471 Av.Victor Hugo, 26000 Valence, France Tel: +33-75 40 95 05 Fax: +33-75 81 26 48

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