The business started with a survey in the Loire at Saumur (Maine-et-Loire) in January 2019, reporting 310 becquerels per liter. A rate four times higher than what is usually expected at the exit from a nuclear power plant (80 bq / l) while for drinking water, a European directive sets the maximum allowed at 100 bq / l.
Leaving the nuclear industry is taking legal action this Tuesday to find out the reasons for this "unusual" pollution of the Loire with tritium, a radioactive hydrogen that poses a risk of cancer and genetic effects. The case was only revealed last June. It is therefore eight months later, and in the absence of explanations, that a complaint against X and against EDF must be filed with the public prosecutor in Paris.
Sanction the polluter
Last summer, the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) did not question the measures. The nearest power plant, that of Chinon (Indre-et-Loire) 20 km from Saumur, is of course pointed out. But that of Civaux, in Vienne, "could be involved, because tritium has also been found in drinking water in Châtellerault", explains Dominique Boutin, anti-nuclear activist based in Touraine.
It is also impossible to exclude the other plants on the Loire, at Belleville (Cher), Dampierre (Loiret) and Saint-Laurent (Loir-et-Cher). Since these surveys, the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) has investigated the plants, but there is nothing to pinpoint the origin of this pollution.
When contacted, EDF did not add any new information. From there to think that a central would have forgotten to report an incident, or would have made up its statements ... This is what pleads Sortir du Nucléaire which asks justice to punish the polluter.