France bans fishing, yachting near nuclear plant

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@ix.netcom.com>]

Someone asked about a news itme that referred to France and water 
pollution from a power plant ... I don't remember who asked the 
question. However, here is an article that addresses the question:
-------------------------

Thursday July 10 10:36 AM EDT 

France bans fishing, yachting near nuclear plant

PARIS, July 10 (Reuter) - France on Thursday imposed an open-ended ban
on fishing and yachting around the La Hague nuclear reprocessing plant
on the Cherbourg peninsula because of fears about radioactive
pollution. 

Environment Minister Dominique Voynet said she would not wait for the
completion of a state study of possible health risks from nuclear
waste dumped into the English Channel to put a stop to fishing and
recreational activities in the area. 

``All measures must be taken to prevent fishermen and yachts from
gaining access to this zone,'' Voynet, a minister in France's new
leftist government, which took power five weeks ago, told reporters. 

The subject is of special interest to Voynet, who is head of the
Greens, France's largest ecologist political party. She described the
step as ``precautionary'' and said it had not yet been established
that the discharges from the plant operated by state nuclear company
Cogema were a danger to health. 

Asked whether the plant itself might eventually be shut down, she
responded, ``We have't got to that point yet.'' 

The Greenpeace environmental group has called on the French government
to close down the plant pending the result of studies of possible
health risks.It has found radioactivity levels exceeding European
Union limits in waste spewing from a La Hague discharge pipe into the
English Channel. 

It said it also found high radioactivity levels in sediment on the
channel bottom near the plant. 

A study by French scientists made public in January found a
concentration of leukaemia cases in individuals under 25 years old and
living within 35 km (20 miles) of La Hague and raised fears of a link
between the incidence of the disease and the area's beaches or local
seafood. 

Cogema, which reprocesses spent nuclear fuel from countries including
Germany and Japan, has accused Greenpeace of exaggerating the level of
radioactivity by measuring too close to the end of the waste pipe,
which is below the water's surface. 

It says levls in the area are otherwise only slightly above normal
background levels of radiation, and has denied there was any risk to
health. 


------------------
Sandy Perle
Technical Director
ICN Dosimetry Division
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Office: (800) 548-5100 x2306 
Fax:    (714) 668-3149
  
mailto:sandyfl@ix.netcom.com
mailto:sperle@icnpharm.com

Personal Homepage:
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