Plutonium Waste Contamination Found Near Paris
Concrete drums containing nuclear waste have leaked plutonium into the ground near an area where hundreds of children play each day, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
The daily Le Parisien said the discovery of plutonium in soil samples shows there is a radioactive threat to residents of Saint Aubin, a town on the outskirts of Paris.
But the official Atomic Energy Commissariat, in charge of France’s nuclear program, said the plutonium discovered measured well below minimum danger levels.
Le Parisien reported that an independent German scientific team from the University of Bremen conducted random samples on about nine pounds of soil gathered near the site.
About 2,500 concrete barrels containing nuclear waste have been stacked at the site since the early 1970s.
Le Parisien said at least 500 are cracked and have been leaking radioactive waste for years.
The energy agency said that the maximum level of radioactive elements found by the researchers was less than 1/30th of the minimum considered to be dangerous.
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