Saturday, August 1, 2015

30 years later, the floor of the Alps still contaminated by Chernobyl – The Point

A new study from the Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity (CRIIRAD), Mercantour soil is contaminated with radiation, which are a direct consequence of the Chernobyl disaster. The Ukrainian Central exploded April 26, 1986, causing a huge radioactive cloud that hit Europe. “The impact was particularly intense in the southeast of France,” recalls the independent body that reports having already “highlighted, between 1996 and 1998, very high contamination of soil in the Mercantour.” Radioactivity measurements, conducted in early July in the area of ​​the collar of Bonette-Restefond, between the Alpes-Maritimes and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, show that the radiation level is two times higher than normal, a meter under the ground.

Values ​​”100 times higher than the natural level”

The Criirad falls indeed the presence of Cesium 137, a radioactive metal produced by nuclear power plants. “Ground contact Radiation levels still exceed the accumulation zones, values ​​several dozen times or more than 100 times, higher than the natural level,” also notes the anti-nuclear association. “Either the values ​​related to the nuclear waste,” says the director of the laboratory Criirad Bruno Chareyron at Beyond The Obs.Au of 10,000 becquerels per kilogram (the unit used to measure radioactivity) , the European directives that it must treat contaminated soil as waste separately. “Do not stay long in the contaminated areas, for this long exposure can have serious consequences: thyroid problems, cancer,” warns Bruno Chareyron. The Mercantour is indeed a tourist site that hosts every year thousands of hikers.

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