Publication Laka-library:
Left in the dust: Areva’s radioactive legacy in the desert towns of Niger
| Author | Greenpeace Int., Andrea A.Dixon |
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5-24-0-00-05.pdf |
| Date | April 2010 |
| Classification | 5.24.0.00/05 (NIGER) |
| Front | 
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From the publication:
Executive summary Nuclear energy giant AREVA is attempting a new nuclear revolution. The company has activities in over 100 countries throughout the world and aggressively pushes nuclear energy in new markets. Its public relations teams have been working overtime to convince governments, investors and the general public - hungry for clean energy - that nuclear energy is now a safe, clean, and ’green’ technology. The devastating effects caused by this alarming misconception are already being felt. Generating nuclear energy requires fuel that is acquired through the destructive and deadly activity of uranium mining. Uranium mining can have catastrophic effects on nearby communities and the environment for thousands of years to come. There are few places where these harmful effects are felt more distinctly than Niger, Africa. A landlocked-Saharan country in West Africa, Niger has the lowest human development index on the planet. Arid desert, scarce arable land and intense poverty are hugely problematic - unemployment, minimal education, illiteracy, poor infrastructure and political instability are rife. However, Niger is rich in mineral resources - like uranium. AREVA established its mining efforts in northern Niger 40 years ago, creating what should have been an economic rescue for a depressed nation. Yet, AREVA’s operations have been largely destructive. There are great clouds of dust, caused by detonations and drilling in the mines; mountains of industrial waste and sludge sit in huge piles, exposed to the open air; and the shifting of millions of tonnes of earth and rock could corrupt the groundwater source, which is quickly disappearing due to industrial overuse. AREVA’s negligent mismanagement of the extraction process can cause radioactive substances to be released into the air, seep into the groundwater and contaminate the soil around the mining towns of Arlit and Akokan, all of which permanently damages the environmental ecosystem and can create a multitude of health problems for the local population. Exposure to radioactivity can cause respiratory problems, birth defects, leukaemia and cancer, to name just a few health impacts. Disease and poor health abound in this region, and death rates linked to respiratory problems are twice that of the rest of the country3. Yet AREVA has failed to take responsibility for any impacts. In fact, its company-controlled hospitals have been accused of misdiagnosing cases of cancer as HIV4. It claims there has never been a case of cancer attributable to mining in 40 years5—what it doesn’t say is that the local hospitals do not staff any occupational doctors, making it impossible for someone to be diagnosed with a work-related illness. The governmental agency in place to monitor or control AREVA’s actions is understaffed and underfunded6. For years, NGOs and international agencies have attempted to test and assess the dangerous levels of radiation that Niger is being exposed to. A comprehensive, independent assessment of the uranium mining impacts has never taken place.