AQUITAINE Purpose/type : plant for the production of fertilizer Location : Boucau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Operator : the Saint Gobain group until 1964; then the company Reno (from about 1964 to 1980 through its subsidiary Fertiladour) Period of operation : 1898-present Nuclear materials: thorium and uranium The plant produces fertilizer and prepares various natural minerals by mechanical means for use in fertilizer. From 1973 to 1991 a pulverization unit ground up monazite for the Rhone Poulenc plant in La Rochelle. The unit initially handled 6000 to 8000 t/yr; in the 1980s the work decreased to 1000 t/yr. A total of 50,059 t of monazite, imported from Australia, Burundi, Malaysia, and Madagascar, were treated. In 2000 Andra described the pulverization unit and the exterior as contaminated with thorium 232 and uranium 238. The DRIRE had demanded the identification of areas with radiation higher than 2.5 micro Sv/h in order to limit access to them [Andra 98]. In 2000, decontamination was underway in the pulverization workshop and on several defined parcels outside the buildings. A prefectoral decree of April 20, 2000, prescribed the work. A public enquiry took place in June and July 2000 [Andra 00]. |