La Hague:Crab Radioactive Contamination is Above EC Regulations

["greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

LA HAGUE: CRABS RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION IS ABOVE  EC
REGULATIONS Greenpeace accuses Cogema and OPRI (1) of failing to
protect public health

La Hague / Paris , 25 September 1997 --- High levels of
radioactive contamination, above EC regulations for sale of
seafood to the public, have been found in crabs from around the
discharge pipe of the Cogema nuclear reprocessing plant in La
Hague, Greenpeace revealed today.

Seventeen crab samples, taken by Greenpeace during an ongoing
scientific monitoring programme in the vicinity of the discharge
pipe, have been analysed by ACRO, an independent French
laboratory, in Caen. ACRO found significant levels of
Caesium-137, Cobalt-60 and other radiotoxic isotopes in the
crabs. For gamma-emitting isotopes, contamination levels up to
1350 Bq/kg have been measured. The maximum permitted level
allowed for sale to the public of seafood under EC safety
regulations is 600Bq/kg. 

"Greenpeace sent the crabs to ACRO to see if the massive
radioactive pollution of the seabed at the end of the pipe could
also contaminate marine life in the area. Today's publication
leaves no doubt that this contamination could have widespread
effects after being found in the food chain", said Penelope
Komites of Greenpeace France.

While the sediments may stay, says ACRO, the crabs can move
several miles per day. This is therefore a serious problem which
demands immediate follow up research. 

Cogema, which operates the La Hague plutonium factory, publishes
an annual report of its environmental analysis, however, this
report repeatedly states that the crabs in the area don't
contain more radioactivity than 8 Bq/kg. The radioactive
contamination of all the crabs found by Greenpeace is
significantly higher than the levels Cogema is telling the
public. The most contaminated was 160 times more active than the
levels reported by Cogema.

Greenpeace also accused the OPRI, the official Government
radiation protection agency, of failing to meet its
responsibility to protect the public, by showing a total lack of
concern over the radioactive contamination of marine life around
La Hague. In June, after the publication of an earlier
Greenpeace investigation showing high levels of radioactive
contamination of the sediment at the end of the pipe, OPRI
analysed just one crab.

Despite the fact that the crabs registered significant
contamination levels, over 30 times higher than those reported
to the public by Cogema, OPRI failed to take further action. "
OPRI's job is to protect the public from radiation in the
environment. While it is outrageous that Cogema has persistently
downplayed the risk from contaminated seafood, the fact that
OPRI takes its responsibilities so lightly defies belief", said
Diederik Samsom of Greenpeace International.

Greenpeace is calling for an independent and comprehensive
research into the contamination of seafood in the area of the
discharge pipe and its possible consequences for human health. 
(1) The French Radiation Protection Agency