NORD NOYELLES-GODAULT-PENNAROYA USINES--Société MetalEurop Purpose/type: factory for treating waste Location: Noyelles-Godault (Pas-de-Calais) north-east of Aras Operator: usines Pennaroya de Noyelles-Godault Materials handled: depleted uranium Wastes: depleted uranium In the 80s Pennaroya owned a plant at Noyelles-Godault. In 1985 the USNRC, by authorization XUO8612, authorized the export of 907 t of exhausted C-21 uranium antimony catalyser containing 14% depleted uranium and 32% antimony to Noyelles-Godault.. The quantity of depleted uranium was 127 t. Pennaroya was to extract the antimony and to place the depleted uranium on a slag heap. At the end of the 80s, Pennaroya combined with the company Preussag to create the French company MetalEurop. The factory operated as a subsidiary, MetalEurope Nord, until 2003. In January of 2003, MetalEurope announced that it was closing the plant. The factory at Noyelles-Godault was one of the biggest lead foundries in Europe with a production of 130,000 tons of lead a year. In 2002 the factory recognized its responsibility for the pollution of the environment caused by lead and signed an agreement with the association Environnement et développement alternatif (EDA) to seek, with the association, new technologies for removing lead from the soil at the site. With the closure of the factory, there is a question about whether the agreement will be honored. As for the uranium, if the exportation took place, where is the depleted uranium today? Moreover, did the company handle nuclear materials on other occasions? [Yahoo! Actualites 18.x.03] --updated Jan. 20, 2003 | |||