Nuclear dust rains on France's atomic parade

By Peggy Hollinger
Financial Times - UK
October 17 2009

It should have been a day of celebration, a moment to showcase France's expertise in nuclear power built over decades of research and development.

Instead government ministers and local state representatives yesterday scurried for cover, cancelling their visits to the planned 50th anniversary celebrations of the Cadarache nuclear site in picturesque Provencal France.

Could the reason have been the embarrassing discovery of kilos of unrecorded plutonium that has for years been lying in the nooks and crannies of fuel manufacturing facilities at Cadarache -- sparking worries over nuclear safety standards and questions for the public prosecutor?

Founded in 1959, Cadarache has been the test bed for France's Atomic Energy Commission since Charles de Gaulle decided the country needed nuclear capacity to provide energy independence.

Yet neither Christine Lagarde, finance minister, nor Christian Estrosi, industry minister, turned up, apparently keen not to fan the outcry over the management of nuclear facilities.

Scientists had expected about 8kg of plutonium to build up as dust around equipment in secured facilities, but 22kg has been found to date and the final figure could be nearer 39kgs.

No matter that the incident, discovered during the dismantlement of a 44-year-old plutonium workshop, is no risk to human life or the environment.

The discovery that France's Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) had wildly underestimated the quantity of plutonium dust that would accumulate -- and then delayed notifying the Nuclear Safety Authority -- has led the latter to hand its findings to the public prosecutor, who will decide if there should be an investigation into the CEA's management.

This is a severe blow to the credibility of the CEA, flagship of French nuclear research, and to Cadarache, soon to be the site of the world's first fusion reactor.

But it has also cast a shadow over the Nuclear Safety Authority's behaviour since it became independent of the government. The CEA insists it informed officials of a likely underestimate of plutonium residue as early as January 2008 and again by telephone in July this year. Yesterday CEA officials criticised the safety authority for an "excess of zeal". Bernard Bigot, CEA director, said he was "surprised that safety officials had not sought an explanation" from either his organisation or the IRSN, a second safety body that evaluates potential risks of nuclear activities.

Over in the plutonium workshop the dismantlement process has been suspended pending a further investigation by the safety authority. Of the 450 so-called glove boxes used to assemble pellets -- essentially incubator-style cases with gloved openings to protect workers from contamination -- 300 remain to be dismantled.

The dust is clearly evident on the floors and sides of the boxes, and small brushes and cloths lie abandoned inside the boxes, as if workers were stopped in mid-operation after the suspension order was given.

Jean-Louis Lemarchand, the CEA official directing the dismantlement is clearly angry about the very public reprimand and the outcry over what he believes is a non-event.

Suspending the operation, he says "achieves nothing".

One of the 2,000 employees and pensioners arriving for the anniversary celebrations said that what hurt the most was not the public controversy, it was the -government's failure to -signal its support for Cadarache by attending the event yesterday.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

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