Читать книгу Industrial and Medical Nuclear Accidents - Jean-Claude Amiard - Страница 52

Waste management incidents are few and far between. Among these, let us mention the explosion that occurred on Monday, September 12, 2011 at around 12 p.m. in the CENTRACO facility located in Marcoule, in the Gard, France (30). Operated by SOCODEI, this facility is dedicated to the processing and conditioning of low and very low level radioactive waste. The explosion occurred in the metallurgical furnace used to melt metal waste. One employee was killed and three others burned to varying degrees by a violent projection of molten metal in the facility’s hall. IRSN measurements confirmed the absence of radioactive releases to the environment off-site [IRS 12b].

There are also some risks associated with waste storage, such as leaks in tanks containing high-level liquid waste (e.g. Hanford mild steel tanks) [DET 74], which could lead to groundwater contamination. In the case of waste dumped at sea, contamination could result from a barrel crack (manufacturing defect) or corrosion, resulting in the release of radioactive materials. In France, at the Centre de Stockage des déchets à vie longue et haute activité de la Manche (CSM), stored tritium escaped into groundwater. Thus, between 1977 and 1992, tritium contamination reached values of 1.4.10⁴–6.10⁵ Bq.L⁻¹ at different points from the slick to the center (ANDRA, 1992, in [GAZ 10]). In 2008, tritium concentrations in these waters reached values in the order of 10³–10⁵ Bq.L⁻¹ at the site boundary (IRSN, 2008, in [GAZ 10]). In the waters of the St. Helena stream, tritium values were in the order of 5.10⁴ Bq.L⁻¹ in 1982, and concentrations reduced in 1992 to several hundred Bq.L⁻¹ [GAZ 10].