ILE DE FRANCE-PETITE COURONNE CENTRE D’ETUDES DE VAUJOURS-MORONVILLIERS-SITE DE VAUJOURS -- shut down Purpose/ type: military research and development center Locati on: Vaujours (Seine-Saint-Denis) to the northeast of Paris Operator: Direction des applications militaires Period of op eration: 1955-1997 Materials handle d: uranium An agreement between the CEA and the Service des poudres led to the creation of the Centre d’études de Vaujours in 1955. It was attached to the Dam in 1958. The site was 44 ha in extent [VauRa 71]. In 1996, following the definitive end of nuclear testing in Polynesia, the government announced that the center would be closed. It ceased operation December 31, 1997. In mid-2000, the property was for sale by auction. "The highly reinforced bunkers of the central fort were frequently used for shots for the purpose of basic research in the various branches of explosives technology" [Dam v.88]. Test "firings with uranium" and also with lead took place at the site of Vaujours itself [CHSV 4.x.73 and 6.x.75], although "the large simulation firings" occurred at the Moronvilliers annex [DAM v.88]. Lucien Beaudoin, a former CEA engineer, who worked for thirty years at Vaujours, explained in 2000 that "we were studying the action of explosives on different metals in order to perfect the atomic bomb." "We blew up natural uranium spheres in the bunkers but also in the open air." The uranium particles were dispersed inside and outside the fort [LeMo 14.vi.00].In 1998, the General Health Directory (DGS) established the minimum clean-up levels of the fort; and that same year, the Office for Protection against Ionizing Radiation (OPRI) tested the adherence to regulations. The dose equivalent received today amounts to 1.6 mSv/year (the limit for the public is set at 1mSv/year . Around the fort, the CEA measured 0.03 becquerels per gram of soil (in the Parisian region, the usual measurement is 0.01 [LeMo 14.vi.00]. A report of the ‘Drire", dated December 3, 1999, indicates that "the site shows residual contamination by radioactive and pyrotechnical substances." On the basis of this report, the prefect established a public inquiry procedure on the instituting of public utility easements." The Vaujours site would be "limited to industrial activities, or to industrial or similar services. In particular, residential use, agricultural activities or others involving the regular presence of children are forbidden." The public inquiry occurred from May 9 to June 10, 2000. On June 27,2000, six Green deputies filed in the National Assembly a resolution demanding the creation of a parliamentary committee of investigation "relative to the consequences of nuclear experiments carried out at the center" "and to appropriate measures for reducing the risks to inhabitants and the environment". A documented report of the CDRPC also demands "real assessment" before the site is returned to the public domain [Obsan #4, ix.00]. According to the CEA, which in 2000 admitted the tests of heavy metals and depleted uranium "in vented shafts", "the site is cleaned up". But the decontamination carried out by normal procedures can be done only down to 50 cm of depth. To go farther would require financial means out of proportion to the objectives of the site transfer" [quoted in FraSoi 7.ix.00]. A radiological and hydrogeological study was to begin in April 2000 and to last a year [LeFi 5.iv.01]. |