A judge has taken legal action against Cogema, a state-run nuclear fuels processor, for allegedly polluting streams and rivers in central France, the company said Saturday.
Cogema was placed under investigation — one step short of being charged — on Thursday amid allegations it polluted water in the central Limousin region, where it once operated uranium mines.
The move by investigating judge Gerard Biardeaud follows a 1999 complaint against Cogema by two environmental groups.
It stands accused of ”pollution, dumping and abandonment of waste,” the company said.
In a statement, Cogema said there was ”no risk either for local residents or for the environment” — although environmental leaders have disputed that claim.
The company extracted uranium from the mines for 50 years before they were closed in 1995, Cogema officials said. Cogema said the waste disposal did not involve radioactive materials.
”We are very surprised,” said Frederic Tona, chemicals and mines director at Cogema, by telephone. ”We maintain a strict watch on all of our former mines.”
”We never dumped waste in the rivers of the Limousin region,” he added. ”The region is naturally rich in uranium ore, and if there’s any pollution, it’s essentially from the natural uranium concentrations.”
Environmental leaders behind the lawsuit claim that the alleged pollution affected the drinking water in the central town of Limoges, about 320 kilometres south of Paris. – Sapa-AP