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AREVA has confirmed that the radioactivity in the streets of Akokan, Niger, was high. The company said so after Greenpeace International (Greenpeace) reported radioactive hotspots in the city. The company has taken action to clean up the spots indicated by Greenpeace under pressure from civil society.
"Areva's reaction supports our call for a comprehensive, transparent and independent environmental assessment of the area," said Dr. Rianne Teule of Greenpeace. "We are glad that the streets of Akokan have been partly cleaned up, but remain very concerned that other problems cannot be ruled out without a comprehensive study. Decades of uranium mining have created radioactive dangers to the people of Akokan, a typical example of environmental and health threats posed by the nuclear industry."
A Greenpeace team visited the company's two uranium mines in Niger at the beginning of November 2009. During this visit Greenpeace identified dangerous levels of radiation in the streets of Akokan, at one location up to 500 times higher than the normal background levels. AREVA had earlier declared the streets safe. A report on Greenpeace's findings is to be published in early 2010.
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