July 24, 2008
Pave: Une nation qui rayonne dans le monde V
Le jour 436 de Sarko
La population est inquiète et ne croit plus aux chiffres officiels.
[The local population is worried and no longer believes official figures.]
André-Yves Becq,
deputy mayor of Bollène,
describing local confidence
in the government's nuclear oversight
17 juillet 2008 (Le Monde)
Jean-Louis Borloo,I don't want people to feel that we are hiding anything from them.
ministre d’Etat, ministre de l’Ecologie,
de l’Energie, du Développement durable
et de l’Aménagement du territoire,
checking on things, better late than never
July 19, 2008 (Telegraph)
July is nuclear screw-ups month in France.
FIFTEEN FRENCH WORKERS EXPOSED
TO LOW-LEVEL NUCLEAR RADIATION
PARIS July 21, 2008 (Xinhua) - Fifteen French workers were slightly exposed to nuclear radiation at Saint-Alban nuclear station in Iser province, but their health was unaffected, local media reported Monday.A manager with France's national power company said regular medical checks found traces of radiation materials in the workers' bodies after they carried out routine repair and maintenance tasks at the nuclear station on July 18.
The manager said they were immediately sent to a hospital for further checks, which showed their organs, luckily, were not affected.
Luckily.
The nuclear station reported the incident to the country's nuclear safety bureau, which examined the scene of the incident, but did not list it as a nuclear radiation incident as it was not very severe.
Luckily.
100 EMPLOYEES AT FRENCH NUCLEAR SITE CONTAMINATED
PARIS July 23, 2008 (BW) - Radioactive particles spewed from a pipe at a French nuclear reactor on Wednesday, slightly contaminating 100 employees, a spokeswoman for the national electric company said.It was the fourth incident at a French nuclear site in recent weeks and the second in five days.
Caroline Muller, a spokeswoman for Electricite de France, said 100 EDF employees were "slightly contaminated" by radioactive particles that escaped from the pipe at a reactor complex in Tricastin, in southern France. Ms. Muller:
What concerns us is less the level of the people contaminated than the number of people contaminated.
Ahhh...huh? It seems to us it is precisely the level of radiation where the concern begins. If the contamination is so piddling as to be of no concern, than what matter the number of contaminated employees?
The incident came a day after authorities lifted a ban on fishing and water sports in two rivers that was imposed July 8 after liquid containing unenriched uranium leaked from a broken underground pipe at a site run by nuclear giant Areva at the huge Tricastin complex, near the city of Avignon.
The truly amazing thing, the wonderful thing about French nuclear power is all that energy is produced but fugitive particle decay never poses a danger to the environment or the locals or the staff. [A sudden idea.] Why not just bottle the contaminant, slap a fancy label on it, and sell it? It's that safe.
L’EAU ENRICHIE EN URANIUM
Darn Good, Pretty Safe
Europeans and Nuclear Safety,65% of French think nuclear energy poses a risk.
Eurobarometer Report (February 2007), p. 21
Yes, and now we know why.
More posts on radiant France here, here, here, and here.
PFFT (What is this?): Rayonnement français (radiation) 3½ | Rayonnement français (glory) 0
Posted by Damian at July 24, 2008 11:15 PMUSA une nation qui rayonne dans le monde !
-----------------------------------------
- L'an dernier, un bombardier B-52 de l'armée américaine avait traversé les Etats-Unis avec à son bord des missiles de croisière à tête nucléaire, chargés par inadvertance et à l'insu de l'équipage.
- En mars, l'Armée de l'air Américaine a reconnu avoir envoyé par erreur des composants de tête nucléaire à Taïwan.
- Aujourd'hui, un équipage de l'Armée de l'air américaine va être sanctionné pour s'être endormi pendant qu'il gardait les codes de lancement d'un missile nucléaire,a annoncé jeudi l'US Air Force.
Hourra pour tous les guignols de l'armée Yankee !
Val drops by with today's tu quoque, which is fair play.
Not sourcing his story we don't know which news service he is selectively quoting, but regarding the last item here is what we found:
"Une enquête a permis de déterminer que des matériels secret défense n'ont pas été compromis", a indiqué un porte-parole de l'Armée de l'air, le lieutenant-colonel Mike Paoli, tout en soulignant que les matériels étaient désactivés et n'auraient pas permis de lancer un missile.
Regarding the second incident:
"This could not be construed as being nuclear material," [then-Air Force secretary Michael W. Wynne] Wynne said. "It is a component for the fuse in the nose cone for a nuclear system."
Regarding the first incident:
A military official told CNN there was no nuclear risk to public safety because the weapons were not armed. ... Military officials also say the missiles could not have been launched because of multiple security procedures required to be enacted before any launch would have been authorized.
Unlike in France where a French person is never to blame:
The squad commander responsible for the munitions has been relieved of duty, and several others have been "decertified" from handling nuclear weapons, officials said.
Unlike in France where no French person is ever held accountable, Mr. Wynne was forced to resign this month.
And regarding all three incidents, unlike in France, there were no contaminations or long-lasting damage to the environment, no immediate or direct risks to the public, no eqiupment malfunctions (and here), yet no downplaying of the seriousness.
So our question to Val is, what is your point? To be absolutely clear, we mean what is your relevant point? We are so keen to know.
Perhaps he only wishes to contrast American transparency and accountability with French spin and excuses.
DGB
Posted by: Damian at July 26, 2008 02:08 AM
