Belgium reduces safety zone near nuclear iodine leak site
Time is GMT + 8 hours Posted: 31-Aug-2008 02:53 hrs
Karina De Beule, Federal Nuclear Control Agency spokeswoman, holds up a map depicting Fleurus on August 29, 2008 during a press conference regarding contamination risks following a radioactive iodine leak. Belgian authorities reduced on Saturday a safety zone near a medical laboratory in the southern town of Fleurus where a leak of radioactive iodine occurred recently.
Belgian authorities reduced on Saturday a safety zone near a medical laboratory in the southern town of Fleurus where a leak of radioactive iodine occurred recently.
.
On Friday, authorities had recommended precautionary measures to avoid the risk of contamination in a five-kilometre (three-mile) zone near the laboratory, where a leak of radioactive iodine was detected last weekend.
.
Police cruised the streets instructing residents over a loudspeaker to not eat fruit and leafy vegetables from their gardens or drink milk from local farms within the zone.
.
However, on Saturday, the zone was reduced to three kilometres where authorities recommended that fruit and vegetables from local gardens not be consumed until September 7.
.
"Tests carried out (on Friday) do not detect radioactivity any more in either the air or the water," a statement from the government's crisis centre said.
.
"Further tests will take place in the coming days to follow the situation closely," it added.
.
The incident put local residents on edge because authorities had at first said their was no risk of contamination only later to urge the precautionary measures.
.
Vice Prime Minister Didier Reynders told the Belga news agency on Saturday that he had ordered Interior Minister Patrick Dewael and Energy Minister Paul Magnette to produce a report on exactly what had happened and how the incident was handled.
.
The leak occurred last weekend at the Institut des Radioelements, a laboratory which makes radioisotopes used in medical imaging and treating cancer.
.
French-language Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported Saturday that Belgian and French nuclear safety authorities had found security lapses at the lab in a joint audit in November 2007. — AFP
