GREENPEACE REVEALS THAT COGEMA PUMPS NUCLEAR WASTE INTO OCEAN; DISCHARGES ARE OVER 17 MILLION TIMES MORE RADIOACTIVE THAN SEA

Cherbourg, France - 20 June 1997

Greenpeace revealed today that it has directly sampled discharges from the COGEMA plutonium companyand found that they are 17 million times more radioactive thannormal s water. The environmental group has announced that thewaste is so radioactive that in the UK it would have to beclassified as intermediate level wast

"Now that we have a sample of COGEMA's radioactive discharge, itis totally clear why the whole marine environment has beencontaminated," said Damon Moglen of Greenpeace International."Cogema is sim y dumping nuclear waste into the sea and hopingthat the current will wash it away. This is utterly shameful cthe new French government must stop these dischargesimmediately

Preliminary sample results released today by Greenpeace werebased on a fifteen liter sample of radioactive effluentdischarged into the Atlantic Ocean by the stateccontrolledplutonium company COGEMA n June 14th. The radioactivitydischarge has an overall betacactivity of between 209 and 216million becquerels per liter. Normal sea water has aradioactivity level of some 12 becquerels pre liter. S eralisotopes were identified in the discharge including Americium,Barium, Cobalt, Chromium, Caesium, Europium, Manganese andAntimony, among which a number are highly radioactive andradiotoxic. Greace warned that the radioactive materialsdischarged could remain deadly pollutants for thousands of years.

Levels found in COGEMA's discharge are clearly beyond levels setby the EC for the definition of controlled nuclear waste. Infact, according to regulations currently in effect in Britain,which is as ittle as five miles from the discharge pipe, theliquid discharge would be classed as intermediate level nuclearwaste.

Greenpeace has announced that it is faced with a paradoxicalproblem due to the highly radioactive nature of the samples theyhave collected. Given that the sample is clearly nuclear waste,it cannot dumped into the sea, such dumping beinginternationally prohibited by the London Dumping Convention.Greenpeace has therefore called on the Belgian, Dutch, French,German, Japanese, and Swiss governm ts, which hold contractswith COGEMA's reprocessing plants, to take control of wastesarising from them. Greenpeace has asked governments to respondwithin 24 hours as to what they wish to be done wit theirnuclear waste. Greenpeace has warned that if the governments donot respond within this time, the organisation will immediatelydeliver the waste to the countries involve

"It is incredible that governments send their nuclear waste toFrance to have it dumped in the sea by COGEMA, said Moglen. "TheO la Hague has gone on forlong enough c we demand that governments' accept theirresponsibility for this waste and immediately stop reprocessingand radioactive discharges to the environment

The dramatic revelation comes one week after Greenpeace announcedthat it had found sediment on the sea bottom which had beenturned into nuclear waste by COGEMA's discharges. In response tothat find g, COGEMA has stolen Greenpeace's sampling equipmentthree different times during the last week. Following the illegalseizure of its equipment, Greenpeace has filed a legal complaintand had its sang efforts commended by the new FrenchEnvironment Minister.

After more than three weeks of work, Greenpeace divers were ableto install sampling equipment which allowed the activists tobring nuclear waste from the discharge pipe to the surfacethrough a hose d pump. Analysis of the sample was conducted ina laboratory on the Greenpeace ship "Rainbow C" moored nearby,as well as in a laboratory at the University of Breme

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Damon Moglen, Greenpeace International
tel: +31 6 534 17 947