France commits a new colonial environmental catastrophe in Niger
Areva's Somair uranium mine near Arlit in northern Niger (Reuters)
After the closure of a uranium mine managed by the French corporation Orano (formerly Areva), the northern town of Arlit in Niger has been left wallowing in 20 million tonnes of radioactive waste. Residents in the vicinity are exposed to levels of radiation that exceed the range suggested by health professionals.
It is worth noting that Niger is the world’s fifth-largest uranium producer.
The African country supplied roughly 25% of the European Union's uranium supplies in 2021, assisting in the production of power for millions of households.
In the 1970s, the French nuclear corporation - then Areva and now Orano - began mining the country's uranium reserves. The Cominak mines near the northern town of Arlit were closed down 47 years later, in March 2021.
According to the French-based Independent Research and Information Commission on Radioactivity, the mine's closure forced the local community to live with 20 million tonnes of radioactive muck on the mine's site (CRIIRAD).
Following a study of the area in 2009, it was discovered that the level of radioactivity was 450,000 Becquerels per kilo - far over the internationally recommended radiation levels.
On his account, CRIIRAD’s scientist Bruno Chareyron said, “The waste produces a radioactive gas known as radon. The strong wind of the desert spreads radioactive dust which is then inhaled by the surrounding population.”
To make matters worse, the soil and subsurface water has been poisoned as well. The 100,000 people who live in the area have no choice but to continue drinking that water.
Exposure to such dangerously high levels of radiation can result in birth abnormalities and cancer, not to mention a variety of other problems.
Greenpeace, for example, conducted an investigation and revealed that many former Cominak workers are suffering from inexplicable ailments affecting the skin, liver, kidneys, and lungs.
“Our heritage is an enduring pollution," Al Moustapha Al Hacen, founder of the local environment protection NGO Aghir in’Man, divulged.
“There is no wildlife left, nor any plants alive around Arlit,” he tersely stated.
France retained its colonies in Africa roughly until the 1960s, exercising its dominance over North, Western, and Equatorial Africa. Shortly after the formation of the Fifth French Republic in 1958, countries such as Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Congo, Chad, and the Central African Republic gained independence.
Despite this fact, Paris failed to completely abandon the region, continuing to intervene in its internal affairs, including by military means.