AREVA fails to address radiation problem around Niger mines: Dr. Rianne Teule

November 23, 2009

Greenpeace reports that high radiation levels have been found on the streets of Akokan in Niger due to its proximity to uranium mines owned by Areva.

Comment:  Dr. Rianne Teule, GreePeace International  will be at the Mar 11: Uranium Mining in Virginia Symposium!  Everybody needs to come!
 
Greenpeace International (Amsterdam)
5 January 2010

Following Greenpeace's report of radioactive hotspots in the uranium mining city Akokan in Niger, AREVA has confirmed that the radioactivity in the streets of Akokan was unacceptably high.

Under pressure from civil society the French nuclear company has taken action to clean up the spots indicated by Greenpeace [1]

"Areva's reaction supports our call for a comprehensive, transparent and independent environmental assessment of the area," said Dr. Rianne Teule of Greenpeace International. "We are glad that the streets of Akokan have been partly cleaned up, but remain very concerned that other problems cannot be ruled out without a comprehensive study.

A Greenpeace team visited AREVA's two uranium mines in Niger at the beginning of November 2009.

 (2) During this visit Greenpeace identified dangerous levels of radiation in the streets of Akokan, at one location up to 500 times higher than the normal background levels.

(3) AREVA had earlier declared the streets safe. A comprehensive report on Greenpeace's findings will be published in early 2010.

Read more:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/areva-fails-to-address-radiati
http://weblog.greenpeace.or/...

Notes to Editor



[1] Note CRIIRAD N°07-53, Présence de matériaux radioactifs dans le domaine public à ARLIT et AKOKAN (Niger), à proximité des mines SOMAÏR et COMINAK (AREVA), CRIIRAD, 14 May 2007.
[2] Greenpeace Briefing Nov 2009, http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/briefing-radioactivity-in-ak.pdf
[3] “Correspondance en date du 6 octobre 2008 avec les Service Départemental des Mines sur le contrôle radiologique de la zone urbaine accompagnée d’une carte des travaux effectuées”, document provided by AREVA, 4 November 2009