Nuclear news. Enjoy modern life‏

This week the Agency France Press (AFP) is giving us two important nuclear news: A bad one and a good one

Lets us start by the bad one: China - A ball of Caesium 137 lost in nature.

According to the New China news agency a scale used for industrial purpose would have disappeared from a factory in Sanxchi province. You may think that there is nothing too serious so far..... The problem is that this instrument contained a metallic ball with a substantial quantity of Caesium 137, a radioactive material that can explode if in contact with water. An intensive search has been ordered by the local authorities. There is hope that the Caesium may be found in the 5000 tons of waste material produced by the factory. The latest good news is that some abnormal level of radioactivity was measured in a neighbouring factory which purchased some scrap iron from the place where the Caesium was lost.... The latest bad news is that this factory is manufacturing iron and the Caesium may have already been melted..... I leave it to your imagination what could be the next reincarnation of the lost Chinese Caesium 137 ball: A car, a bicycle, a tin???



Now the good one: Sahara and Polynesia. Compensation for the victims of French nuclear tests.

Our Minister of defence: Mr Herve Morin has unveiled this week a proposal of law to compensate the victims of the 210 nuclear tests undertaken by our country from 1960 to 1966 in the Sahara and from 1966 to 1996 in Polynesia (see our previous story). A first annual compensation some 10 million Euros would be set aside to compensate the potentially 150 000 workers and the unknown number of civilians concerned who were living in the areas were the tests took place. This is good news, even though one would immediately ask the question why so late? Better late than never in any case. Minister Morin said that it was one of the first tasks he had asked his Ministry to work on when he took his job. Despite their reservations, he proceeded. He further said that for him it was a matter of consciousness. Compensation will be provided based on a list of 18 illness established by the United Nations as potentially resulting from radiations (cancer, leukaemia, etc...). A medical commission will study the requests for compensation and decide on the validity and the amount to be provided to the victims. The Ministry of defence already publicly recognized in the past 4 nuclear incidents during tests in the Sahara and 10 in Polynesia.